Crests of Origin
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: 02/04 x-over. Everything came from somewhere. They knew the crest power came from their hearts, but before that they came from the hearts of others. Now they're learning that story as they fight for the future…and the past.
1. The Cave in the Forest

Author's Notes

The idea was just nagging to be written, but I've already learnt a lot more just from the preliminary research, so it should help my other fics too. But I couldn't write the next chapter of Mirror Distortions until I finished this. We'll just blame the muse.

A few notes on the technicality:

- Only the second generation digidestined (Davis, Yolei, Cody, TK, Kari and Ken) and Oikawa's children have D3s to my knowledge, so they are currently still the only ones that can open the gate to the digital world

- BlackWarGreymon sealed the gate in Heighten View Terrace, but the gates in Odaiba and Tamachi should still be functional. Therefore, for the purposes of this fic, the gates can still be opened from those locations

- The final term of school starts in early January. I'm not sure whether the events of Digimon 02 finished between Christmas and New Years or after New Years, but this way covers both. This fic starts just before that final term, very soon after the events of 02, save the epilogue.

- This may not appear to be compatible with the events of the epilogue. Whether it turns out to be or not…we'll all just have to wait and see. Same goes for the 2nd movie (fourth in the Japanese version. The one where Impaildramon Paladin mode is in, seeing as it takes place in the next break, aka. in March as Yolei's trying on a middle school uniform).

- The forest where Gatomon lost her tail ring is the same one where Davis got the Digi-egg of Courage. There's two gates though, seeing as the one they entered through the first time was somewhat outside forest boundaries.

- The events of Frontier took place before the events of 01. How far? You'll have to wait and see.

And lastly, but certainly not least, a big thank you to Shara Raizel for letting me talk her ear off, helping me smooth some of the main ideas, and giving me some pointers. Arigato Shara-san. :)

Well, that should be it for now. Enjoy, and tell me what you think.

* * *

Crests of Origin

02/04 x-over. Everything came from somewhere. They knew the crest power came from their hearts, but before that they came from the hearts of others. Now they're learning that story as they fight for the future…and the past.

Daisuke M/Davis & Takuya K

* * *

Chapter 1

The Cave in the Forest

'Ah,' Davis Motomiya sighed to himself, feeling the gentle wind of the digital world fan his face as he rested his head on his palms, lying with his back comfortably nested in the cool grass. 'This is the life.'

'That's easy for you to say,' Ex-Veemon yelled from somewhere to the left as another crash broke the whistling of the breeze before letting it play it's melody uninterrupted. 'You're not the one doing work on your vacation!'

Several different voices melded into laughter as Davis shot up into a sitting position. 'I am too doing work,' the young leader rebuked his partner. 'Who made you evolve?'

The laughter grew.

'Yeah, laugh it up you guys.'

That didn't seem to deter the rest of the Digidestined though.

It was still early January and school would be opening after the weekend for most of them, so they, the digidestined, had decided to take the opportunity to finish cleaning up the mess left from when Arukenimon resurrected the Control Spires. Oikawa's life force had proved sufficient in reawakening the beauty that MaloMyotismon's darkness had obliterated, but the result had been a Digital World in the state it had been minutes before the blanket of darkness had begun to spread. That meant that the gate in Heighten View Terrace was still closed by BlackWarGreymon's life energy. It meant that there were still numerous control spires pillaging the beautiful landscape, albeit they were no longer functional. That meant that the damage from all the fighting still persisted, and still needed to be repaired.

Only the Japanese digidestined it appeared had the D-3s capable of opening the gate. The six from the second generation, and the team dubbed, just in order to differentiate them from the others in the same general area, "Oikawa's children". They were attempting to rebuild a factory destroyed by BlackWarGreymon's rampage, seeing as all the digimon partners were at the baby level and thus incapable of taking down control spires…or indeed being any help further than company and heart-filled entertainment.

Hence, it fell to the six of them, and the original digidestined (when someone opened the gate for them), to knock down the remainder of the Control Spires and turn them into rubble. Not a particularly fun job, but having one's friends around always managed to lighten up the atmosphere, no matter how hard they were working.

Or weren't.

'Oh man.' TK stretched his arms over his head. 'That was a good laugh.' Then, ignoring Davis' indignant response, he added: 'It's a shame school's starting up on Monday though. Even if I can't wait to get back to basketball.'

'Stay like that,' Kari said, snapping a picture that took in TK's relaxed face in comparison to Davis' indignant expression.

Yolei, having caught a good glimpse of the photo over her shoulder before she turned her camera off, grinned. 'Good photo,' she commented.

'Thanks,' the brunette replied back. 'It seemed like a perfect opportunity.'

Because Kari was…well, Kari, she didn't get her head chewed off by the two boys.

'I can't wait for school to start up again,' she added, watching Nefertimon fire a pink beam at the last Control Spire in sight and disintegrating it.

'I can't believe you like school.' TK shook his head. 'Seriously.'

'Why not?' Kari shot back. 'What's not to like?'

'Homework!' Davis declared immediately, cutting his proclaimed rival off. 'And the teachers. Aargh.'

Both girls giggled.

'Maybe if you followed their instructions, you wouldn't find them so bad,' Cody commented as Antylamon clamoured up to him, devolving as he came. The five with wings touched down at the same moment, but far more gracefully than their friend confined to the earth.

'I wish I had wings,' Armadillamon lamented, as Cody patted him on the head.

'Don't worry,' the youngest of their six-membered team comforted. 'You're perfect the way you are.'

'I'll be better with a nap.' And with that, the shell-type Digimon covered a yawn with his right paw.

'It _is_ getting late,' Wormmon commented, crawling up Ken's arm to settle in the crook of his neck, his partner having knelt down and offered a hand. 'We should start heading back, otherwise we'll mist the Teriyaki.

'You're right,' Ken agreed. 'I wouldn't want to miss that.' He looked at the other five and got a chorus of shrugs and groans, the latter being from Davis.

'And that's it,' he said with an air of theatrical tragedy. 'Another chapter of our lives draw to a close. Farewell Digital World.'

'Seriously Davis,' Yolei sighed, rolling her eyes. 'You act like school starting is the end of the world. It never stopped you before.'

'Sure it did,' the other rebuked. 'Detentions, soccer, homework…'

'Not that you ever did any,' TK interrupted, folding his arms behind his head and grinning up at his partner as Patamon sat on his hat.

'Well…there's detentions.'

'Which you wouldn't get if you listened to the teachers and followed the rules,' Cody rebuked.

A pause, and then Davis, a little louder than necessary, exploded good-naturedly: 'Is this the lecture club? Geeze, cut me some slack here.'

The other eleven laughed some more at his expense, including Veemon, whose stomach rumbled with hunger moments later, sealing the agreement to head home for some afternoon snacks…or dinner in Ken's case as that was what time it would be once he got to his apartment in Tamachi from Cody's house in Odaiba.

'Man, I hope your mother made more of those brownies,' the brash child of Courage and Friendship commented to the youngest of the group, clutching his own stomach in a manner that would have been comical if it hadn't been entirely overused.

'I did tell her I was having company over for tea,' Cody replied calmly. 'So I'm sure she made plenty.'

'I hope so,' the blonde commented. 'What with the way Davis and Yolei eat, not to mention all the Digimon.'

'Hey!' The two subjects exclaimed. The Digimon were used to being compared to bottomless pits.

TK just shrugged. 'You two do eat more than the rest of us put together.'

* * *

They were halfway back to the nearest TV when Gatomon's ears stood straight and she stopped walking.

'I hear something,' she said, tips twitching as she looked around.

The others followed suit, and Kari shivered a little.

'Is it just me?' the brunette asked with a fairly steady voice, all things considered. 'Or is this forest darker than it was five minutes ago?'

'It is,' TK mused, looking up to find the sun covered by clouds. 'That's weird. It was just sunny.'

'I hope it doesn't start to rain,' Cody said quietly. 'My mother won't be pleased if I catch a cold.'

'It doesn't look like it will,' Ken comforted, realising the clouds weren't dense with moisture but rather white wisps. 'The clouds aren't grey.'

'Well, that's a relief.' The cat shook herself for emphasis, before frowning. 'The sound's clearer now. Wings of some sort.'

'That's weird,' Yolei commented. 'Isn't this the forest where you lost your Tail ring? There was a – no wait, that was Arukenimon.'

'There are _Monochromon_somewhere around here,' TK pointed out. 'We saw them when Davis got his digi-egg of courage, remember?'

'Oh right,' the burgundy-haired male remembered. 'Weren't there also those slimy…what are their names again?'

'They're Numemon.' Kari's tone took on a slight edge, although it went apparently unnoticed by the goggle-wearer.

'Err, right. Numemon.'

'There's also Unimon.' Gatomon continued. 'But these wings are too light for that. We'd be able to hear Unimon's wing-beats from the edge of the forest.'

'You mean _you_ would,' Patamon corrected. 'The rest of us don't have quite good ears you know.'

'Indeed,' Wormmon agreed. 'I still can't hear anything at all.'

'Me neither,' the rest of them chorused, except Gatomon who's ears twitched again.

'There's a lot of them,' she mused aloud. 'Coming closer fast.'

Everyone tensed; they couldn't help it. It was still somewhat difficult for their bodies to get used to the fact that they wouldn't be attacked from every corner.

'Flymon?' Hawkmon asked, before frowning as he heard the sounds too. 'No, no buzzing.'

Then he jumped and let out a squawk when the trees apparently echoed his words back. 'No, no buzzing.'

'No, no buzzing.'

'No, no buzzing.'

'No, no buzzing.'

'This is weird,' Yolei said, her voice taking on a slightly higher pitch than usual as the crazy echoing continued.

'This is weird.'

'This is weird.'

'This is weird.'

The others just blinked at each other as the echo changed, some with bewildered expressions on their faces, some looking a tad creeped out, and some, namely Davis, starting to looked a little amused.

'Geeze Yolei,' Davis began with a bit of a smirk playing on his lips, before being cut off as the echo changed again, coming ever closer.

'Geeze Yolei.'

'Geeze Yolei.'

'Geeze Yolei.'

The subject opened her mouth to retaliate, but Cody caught her attention and shook his head.

'This is getting creepier by the minute,' Kari whispered, low enough to be barely heard. Apparently, whatever the echoing was, it hadn't picked up her words, as the "Geeze Yolei" continued, much to the mauve haired girl's disgruntlement.

Luckily, before she could lose her cool, the source of the noise came into view, and a few shrieks later (to which only Kari chose to own up to), they were blinking at a bunch of…

'Are they Digital bats?' TK asked, sounding bewildered. 'They certainly look more friendly than DemiDevimon.'

'They're Pipsimon,' Ken explained, taking a step closer before letting a small grin grace his features as the Pipsimon took his words to heart.

'They're Pipsimon.'

'They're Pipsimon.'

'They're Pipsimon.'

'Harmless,' Ken hurriedly added, sending the bats off on the new tangent.

'Harmless.'

'Harmless.'

'Harmless.'

'Can't they talk normally?' Yolei whispered. 'Because it's really weird how they keep repeating everything we say.'

'Everything we say,' the Pipsimon chorused, causing Davis to let out a snort of laughter and the digimon to mimic that, thus causing everyone else to glare at the goggle-head.

Ken shrugged, a little helplessly. 'All I know is that they're peaceful digimon that hang out in caves and dark places.' Then his brow furrowed as he looked around. 'It's gotten even darker.'

'I think it's about to rain,' Cody said quietly, looking up again. 'The sky has darkened.'

'That was fast.' TK adjusted his hat. 'But then again, nothing in this world is what I'd call normal.'

'Normal, normal, normal,' the Pipsimon chorused, leaving their stationary pose and flapping about as sprinkles of water began to pour.

TK adjusted his hat again as Patamon jumped off. 'Ack,' he said, shaking himself, accidently spraying Gatomon…whose fur was already starting to look frazzled. Hawkmon flapped his wings a little, thankful for the oily layer that kept him from getting wet, while Yolei was equally thankful for her hat and Wormmon his exoskeletal exterior. The rest of them were feeling rather soggy in minutes though as the rain steadily picked up power.

'Do you know where we can find shelter?' Cody asked the Pipsimon politely, hoping they did in fact speak normally as well as their echoes.

'Shelter?'

'Shelter?'

'Shelter?'

Yolei face-palmed her slick forehead, before blinking as they took off in a rather orderly fashion, still echoing the tail of Cody's question. 'Uhh…do they want us to follow?'

'Follow.'

'Follow.'

'Follow.'

'I presume so,' Hawkmon surmised as the Pipsimon continued their one-worded echo. 'And it would be wise to follow.'

No-one wasted any time after that, and the bats led then through the trees and into a cave.

'Oh, thank goodness.' And Gatomon proceeded to shake herself dry, almost reminiscent of a dog, spraying the other digimon too, except Patamon who was still in the air.

'Hey!' they all exclaimed, trying to get themselves reasonably dry without much success, until they all fished around in their pockets and withdrew three handkerchiefs between the six humans. Gatomon gratefully accepted the one from her human and proceeding to rub at her soaked fur, leaving Cody to mop up Armadillamon's shell and Hawkmon to wave off Yolei's and offer it to Ken and Wormmon while Patamon managed to get himself dry in the air. The oily glands on his skin were a big help with that, much like Hawkmon's own beneath the feathers.

Veemon looked like he was about to cry before Armadillamon, apparently only mopping his forehead, handed Cody's over.

'Hmm…'

Kari looked over at her friend. 'What is it TK?' she asked.

'You know…' He cocked his head slightly, causing Patamon to flounder slightly as he tried to sit atop the hat again. 'Oh, whoops. Sorry Patamon. I was just thinking that this cave doesn't seem familiar at all.'

'Well, we did go slightly out of our way to get out of the rain,' the brunette pointed out.

'True, but I thought we've been everywhere there is to go in this world.' Then he stretched again, stifling a yawn. 'Heh, the world must be bigger than I thought.'

'We didn't exactly have time for sightseeing when trying to climb Spiral Mountain,' the child of light pointed out. 'I don't remember passing a single cave then. And you're sure this isn't the cave with the Digi-egg of Courage?'

'Yep.' He pointed to the middle, where there was no sign of the man-made platform that had stood. 'There was a flat rock there with a hole the last time I saw it.'

'And yet we were heading for that same TV.' Kari frowned slightly. 'Does that mean we're lost?'

'I doubt it Kari,' the other comforted. 'We didn't get too far off course.' He pulled out his D-terminal just to be sure, as the Pipsimon had decided to depart, mimicking Davis' and Veemon's loud farewell so it echoed into the forest for minutes more. 'Yep, there's the TV. A bit extra walking, but we're closer to the other one. And there's the cave too, where Davis got his Digi-egg.'

He pointed at the small structure on the map, then at the blinking dots that showed their own position in a similar structure, simply in an area that was more…dense with forest.

'It's no wonder we never spotted it,' Yolei pointed out, peeking through the roof of the cave. 'The trees over there are completely smashed. I'm guessing BlackWarGreymon uncovered it during his rampage.'

'That might explain why the Pipsimon are no longer in this cave,' Wormmon, a tad unexpectedly, spoke up. 'It's no longer secluded enough for them. For the most part, they don't like to interact with other digimon, but they seem to like humans and those digimon with them.'

'You've met them before?' Gatomon asked curiously. 'I've travelled all over this world and never even laid eyes on kind like them.'

'Yes.' The worm-digimon nodded. 'We met them the first time Ken came to the Digital World.'

All eyes were suddenly on the blue-haired boy…except his own which were staring at a blank spot on the sloping walls. 'I don't remember that,' he muttered to himself, speaking slightly louder to add: 'That would explain why they were on the database.'

The sentence, although increasing in volume, was still barely audible amongst the pattering of the rain.

'I thought you wrote that thing,' Davis said suddenly, before looking down as Veemon elbowed his leg. 'What?'

The blue dragonling shook his head, but Ken answered anyway. 'It was Wormmon.' There was a funny tinge to his voice which everyone picked up, and the ones deemed more sensible scrambled for a distraction.

Funnily enough, it was Davis who steered the conversation off the track it was heading towards. 'So what else do you know about those guys?'

Now everyone's attention was on Wormmon, and he answered while averting his gaze ever so slightly to the floor. He wasn't a particular fan of giving speeches, and they, he and Ken that was, still didn't know the other Digidestined as well as they would like. The bridge was closing though.

'They mimic speech they hear and their powers are greater in the dark. Some sort of sonic I believe.'

'I wonder if they're like the Japanese house bats,' Cody mused, putting a thumb under his chin and adapting a thinking pose. 'They certainly seem to hold some resemblance.'

'Why do they call them house bats anyway?' Davis asked.

The humans all stared at him.

'What?'

Yolei was the first to roll her eyes and turn away…or she would have turned away if something hadn't caught her eye. 'Hey.' She pointed into the depths of the cave they had largely ignored. 'What's that?'

There was a slight glimmer coming from the darkness, reflecting from the light that cracked through the broken tree canopy as the clouds began to part and rays of light from an almost setting sun shone.

They all squinted, to various degrees of success. Eventually, it was Gatomon who had the best night vision out of all of them, who correctly identified it as a small screen of some sort.

'A screen?' Kari asked, watching the white cat slink into the shadows. 'Hey, wait Gatomon.'

She followed, and the hurried footsteps behind told her the others were following too…for which she was thankful. She wasn't afraid of the darkness per say (the usual sort of darkness that was) but it always unnerved her, not knowing what could be lurking around corners. And her two encounters with the Dark Ocean certainly hadn't helped matters any.

But the footsteps behind and ahead, no matter how haphazard, were comforting, so it wasn't long before they all stood in the gloom of the cave's corner, staring at the screen that had caught the light of the setting sun.

The rays were stronger now, but they somehow, almost eerily, converged into a single laser beam shining over the device that belonged to it…once they had all crowded around. It wasn't a perfect beam by all means; it had to deal with a semi-barrier of six humans and an equal number of digimon after all. But it was enough light to illuminate the screen and its immediate surrounds, and the said screen seemed to have a certain reflective capacity, as they, when they looked at each other, could make out their grey faces in the dim light. It almost looked like a black and white film.

It was Davis who moved first, picking up the device. 'Hey, Ken. How'd you drop your D-3 all the way out-' He stopped, when he realised it felt a little lighter in his hands, as well as a little bigger and flatter.

'It's a different model,' Gatomon pointed out, having no problem making out the black casing and the grey grips. 'And the colour scheme's reversed.'

It was true. Ken's digivice was grey with black grips.

Davis shrugged. 'Maybe it belongs to one of the other Digidestined. There's got to be more than two models floating around.' He turned the device over in his hand, but found nothing else in the dim lighting.

TK snatched it and took a closer look. 'I don't think I've seen anything like this before,' he commented. 'But it does look a little similar to our D-3s. '

Their D-3s had a four directional navigation button, much like their cell phones did, as well as two arrows beside the screen. The new one didn't…or rather, the old one as it looked rather worn. Or perhaps it was simply the light that made it look faded and dead. The screen was darker than their own as well; that was apparent even with the translucent plastic catching the light of the sun. There were two white buttons, the left a little higher than the right, and more buttons to the side. Those ones reminded him of the R and L functions of his remote control, as well as the joystick…only the thumb roll was neatly embedded. There was a button common on both models though. A yellow one, small and located at the bottom of the flat surface, while their own hosted it under the screen.

'Maybe Izzy will know.'

Kari peered at it. 'He'll probably take it apart first,' she pointed out, staring at the dead screen. 'I wonder if it's broken.' She reached out to thoughtfully touch it, before hearing a torrent of water suddenly falling, as if the canopy that held it gave way, before the sound eased back into the gentle pattering of rain.

'What is it?' Gatomon's blue eyes stared up at her.

'I thought I just heard some water splash,' the brunette replied. 'It was a little unexpected.' Unconsciously, she withdrew her fingers.

'I didn't,' TK, Yolei and Davis replied together, before staring at each other. Luckily, Ken interrupted before one of them spoke further and possibly ignited an argument.

'I did.'

'It was probably a leaf canopy collapsing against the weight,' Cody shrugged reasonably. 'We wouldn't have really registered it over this rain unless we were paying attention to it.'

'True,' TK agreed, ruffling the younger boy's hair. 'Always the voice of reason.' There was a moment of silence except for twelve breathing forms, and then he spoke again. 'Hey, the rain's stopped.'

* * *

They left the cave, standing for a moment in the puddle as Yolei worked out the direction of the nearest TV.

'It's through there,' she said, pointing with a wet glove through a grove of trees, before shivering. 'Ooh, I hadn't realised how warm it was in that cave.'

'We'd better run,' Ken said, looking at his watch. His clothes were mostly dry, having the fortune of having thinner layers than…say, Yolei or Davis. Kari's were dry too, and TK's were almost there. Cody's top sat somewhere in between, but Davis' jacket was still dripping droplets of water, as was Yolei's pants. 'We'll miss the bus back otherwise.'

'Well, see you later then!' Davis waved even when the pair vanished into a speck of grey amongst the trees, Wormmon hitching a ride on the other's shoulder. Then he blinked. 'Did I hear those Pipsimon again?'

Veemon looked wounded. 'I was just saying goodbye to Wormmon.'

'Oh, whoops. Sorry Veemon.'

There was some snickering.

'Yeah, laugh it up guys.'

That invited some full-blown laughter as TK slipped the strange worn (it hadn't been the light) digivice into his pants pocket. It made an odd bulge, but at least that would remind him to show it to Izzy the following morning.


	2. A BlackCoated Digivice

Author's Notes

Thank you everyone who's read, reviewed, favourited or alerted this fic so far. You guys rule. :) Seriously, you've beaten any first chapter I've put up before in all four areas. I'd give cyber-chocolate…but allergies sadly. Cyber apples anyone? Hmm…bad idea if I ever wind up as a doctor. Okay, cyber candy for everyone!

I uploaded this chapter a little earlier than I planned. This is because I plan to update at the beginning and just past the middle of each month, but I uploaded the first chapter just before the middle. So this should equate it. Hopefully, the next chapter will be up between the fifteenth and the eighteenth of May, and the one after that at the beginning of June and so forth.

I'm pretty sure the English dub has messed up the schooling system, seeing as Yolei enters into junior high school in the post-02 movie (she's trying the uniform on at the beginning) and she's in seventh grade (which is supposed to be the first year of junior high school) throughout the series. She mentions it to Sora's dad. So we'll just have to assume that the seventh grade is part of Odaiba Elementary School. According to Wikipedia, Davis is also 13 and also in 7th grade, but in the jap. Version he's a year younger than her. Again, doesn't make sense. Four years from season 1 would mean sixth grade for TK and Kari, and by extension Davis as they're in the same homeroom. Therefore for the purposes of this fic, Yolei is in 7th (13 yrs old) and still in Elementary, Davis, TK and Kari are in sixth (and 12). Maybe they're renovating the campus. That happened once with us. The senior school campus had years 5-12 because there wasn't room for the year 5s at the primary campus. Ken has to be in primary school too if he plays against Davis in soccer. I don't think they'd pit a junior high team against an elementary team. After all, Tai wasn't on the team and they're in the same soccer club. So for this fic, Ken's 12 and in 6th grade too (even if he's supposed to 13 in the dub version). I would have stuck to the Japanese names, but there are differences in the sub that actually affect this fic, so that's a no go.

Enjoy.

* * *

Crests of Origin

02/04 x-over. Everything came from somewhere. They knew the crest power came from their hearts, but before that they came from the hearts of others. Now they're learning that story as they fight for the future…and the past.

Daisuke M/Davis & Takuya K

* * *

Chapter 2

A Black-Coated Digivice

Patamon was snoring. He'd have to remember to tease his partner about that in the morning. Provided he managed to get asleep. But it was proving difficult, and not because of his mother typing rapidly in the next room.

For some reason, the mystery digivice was stuck in his head. He and Yolei had dropped it by Izzy's apartment, and the fifteen year old had promised to work on it. He hoped to have something to tell once they checked up on him after school, seeing as any attempt to talk before that would probably be blotched with pressing time.

Izzy was an expert in anything related to computers; he'd figure it out. TK, the one who barely knew enough to work with his mother's PC (which was only a little more complicated than the normal operation due to the necessities of her job), should just wait patiently. But it just seemed somewhat ominous, finding a digivice in a cave in the middle of a forest.

He couldn't help but wonder if they had a new enemy to deal with. Just like the last time they'd been able to pass through the Gates after the defeat of the Digimon Emperor and the created Kimeramon. It h tad turned out then that they still had Arukenimon and Mummymon to deal with, the puppets pulling the strings of the Digimon Emperor, and then above that, MaloMyotismon. The mastermind of the entire problem. Except the Dark Ocean. They'd never figured out exactly what the place had wanted with Kari. But for days after they had returned after that epic battle, watching a distraught Ken disappear into the distance with a crest all of them had, at the time, wondered whether or not he deserved, he'd had nightmares. It had been, he was fairly sure, Kimeramon's doing. Or rather, the fact that someone had had the galls to create a digimon using that monster Devimon.

He gritted his teeth, staring blindly at the ceiling. Even after everything that had happened in between, Kimeramon still upset him. Devimon still got to him. His nightmares about Patamon disappearing out of his life for good still got to him…even when the bat-like digimon was right beside his head, snoring away on the white pillow they shared.

He finally closed his eyes when they began to burn in protest. Patamon was safe. And there might not be any new enemy; Gennai had told them in confidence that there was no need for DNA-digivolution any more, and had given Gatomon back her tail ring. He wouldn't have done that if there was still danger…right? They'd had their crests for almost a year after Apocylamon after all, although there hadn't been a need for them.

When we woke up in the morning, having slept rather badly, he couldn't help but wonder if he had driven himself to paranoia. He really should have remembered that was a sure-fire way to have nightmares. Not that he could help it.

'Hey.' Patamon fluttered onto his Monday hat. 'Want me to blow raspberries?'

TK grinned. He couldn't help himself; the image was always just too funny. 'I don't think we have time for that.'

'You don't,' Nancy validated from the next room, still typing away. Her son couldn't help but wonder if his mother had actually gotten any sleep the night before. It seemed Patamon was on his own in that regard. 'If you don't hurry, you'll be late as it is. Grab a few biscuits from the cupboards.'

And he hadn't even had his breakfast. And now he had to make do with breakfast crackers.

He stifled a yawn, looking for his shirt. He wondered how he was going to handle this sort of thing by April, when he joined junior high school. There would be the uniform to contend with too.

Really, it was amazing Tai made it to school on time, but that was probably his mother (or Kari) waking him. His own mum was normally as reliable as the clock…unless she was trying to meet deadlines.

Five minutes later, he left the apartment at a sprint. There was no point in waiting for the elevator…or for Cody and Yolei. They'd probably already gone without him. Neither of them liked being late. As for the elevator itself…waiting for one of those seemed to take even longer when one was already pressed for time.

* * *

'Whoops,' was the first word out of Davis' mouth as he stared at the broken glances still half-hanging on the other boy's face. Playing soccer during the lunch-break was a popular past time with quite a number of the sixth grade boys…enough to make two soccer teams and play a mock game. No-one really had a problem with the arrangement…until someone got injured or something got broken. And that wasn't technically against the rules, just troublesome when someone went to the nurse with a livid bruise, or worst case scenario, a busted shin.

Kicking the ball along the corridor was however not a part of that. Especially not past a teacher's shocked face.

Now, that might have simply earned him a detention, if the wayward ball hadn't hit a passing seventh grader in the face. One who wore glasses at that, and now the broken frames hung of her shocked face.

At least it hadn't been Yolei, otherwise he wouldn't be alive to be suspended. But he should have known he was going to cross that line eventually.

Of course, she might kill him afterwards anyway. Provided she could salvage something from his parents. He may have gotten quite a detention record, but he'd never been suspended yet.

Until now that was.

* * *

'You got suspended,' Tai repeated in his successor's ear. Davis had called the elder Kamiya up to inform him why he wouldn't be able to make it to the meeting at Izzy's, and to beg, in not as many words, that he pass on the message.

'Yes,' the burgundy-haired male responded, a little exasperated. 'You don't need to keep repeating it. As it is, I'm in for an earful as soon as my Dad makes it home.'

A sigh on the other end. 'How long?'

'Two days.' A pause. 'At least I won't miss the soccer match against Shibuya. The couch would have killed me too…provided my parents don't kill me first.' There was another pause, this one slightly more…panicky. 'Oh man. Maybe I can just pretend I'm-'

'Don't even think about it,' Mrs Motomiya yelled from the kitchen.

'You might have thought about that before you told your parents,' Tai pointed out.

'Big help that would have been,' the other complained, mouth widening to pronounce the syllables with forced emphasis. 'The vice principle rang Mum up.'

'And hurry up,' his mother added, the clattering of spoons and other utensils against a boiling pot accompanying her words.

'I'm hurrying,' Davis muttered before switching back to his conversation with Tai, not bothering to cover the phone. 'Could you explain to the others?'

'And get myself killed instead? No thanks.'

'Oh come on Tai. _I_ can't tell them. Not to mention Mum's only allowed a single phone call before it's complete lock-down…except for emergencies.'

Once upon a time, Tai may have taken that as a challenge, but he had grown since then. 'All right,' he sighed dramatically. 'I'll call Izzy and tell him. They're not going to be happy with you, you know.'

'I know. It wasn't my fault that girl showed up out of no-where though!'

'Well, you really should stop playing soccer indoors.'

'You're not one to talk Tai.'

'What does DemiVeemon think?' It was a widely transparent attempt to change the subject, but it worked to some extent.

'He thinks it's the best as we'll have more time to play together,' Davis replied, tone bordering a little on suspicion. 'Why?'

'Oh…no reason. See you later.'

The dial tone was suddenly echoing in the sixth-grader's year.

'What the heck Tai?'

* * *

Yolei crossed her arms, before uncrossing them to take a biscuit from the tray Mrs Izumi had brought them. 'Mmm,' she mumbled, chewing slowly. 'These are delicious.'

'I'll be sure to tell Mum you say so,' Izzy replied, more calmly than the female who finished her biscuit before crossing her arms again. 'Where is Davis?'

'Suspended,' TK, Kari and Izzy replied simultaneously.

The purple-haired girl looked at them. The two sixth graders shrugged. 'News travels fast,' the blonde explained. 'But we don't know _why_ he was suspended. There are all sorts of rumours going around.'

'He was kicking a soccer ball in the corridor and broke the glasses of a seventh grader,' Izzy explained. 'Tai called a little while ago. Apparently Davis called him and asked him to pass on the message.'

'Hmmph,' the Digidestined of Love and Sincerity huffed. 'That's just like him. Still as irresponsible as ever.' Then she paused as the rest of the statement registered. 'A seventh grader?'

She was in the same year level, but she didn't remember seeing anyone with broken glasses. And one would think the rumour would have spread to her as well.

'Are you sure it's not just some excuse?'

'Davis wouldn't miss a Digidestined meeting on purpose,' Cody pointed out rationally. 'I think it's probably the truth, but we should make a start. Izzy?'

The red-head nodded, swivelling around on his desk-chair so he faced his computer again. He manoeuvred the mouse with practiced ease, and soon an image of the digivice they had found the previous day was on screen.

'This digivice appears to be rather old,' the computer expert began. 'But also rather well preserved, so that makes guessing its date of origin rather difficult, particularly with all the changes the Digital World have been through. I can pretty safely say though that it doesn't belong to any of the digidestined I currently have contact with. I checked with them all yesterday, and they've never seen anything like it. The closest is the D-3 model, but as we know, they are only in the Tokyo area.'

'Us and the kids that Oikawa had picked up,' Yolei nodded. 'So you're saying it doesn't belong to any digidestined we know?'

Izzy nodded. 'I also emailed Gennai, but I haven't gotten a response from him. That's nothing to panic about,' he added, seeing as the younger digidestined weren't particularly used to his…unreliability. 'If there was something we needed to know, he'd have told us.'

'Sometimes I wonder if he finds it amusing to watch us chase our tails,' Tentomon commented, nibbling a biscuit. 'He certainly waits long enough to help us.'

'He was quite efficient when our world was being attacked,' Yolei pointed out.

'Are you sure you aren't more occupied with his appearance?' Hawkmon asked, not quailing under his partner's stare as anyone else would have done. He'd spent enough time with her after all to be used to her personality.

'_Yes_, I'm sure Hawkmon,' she replied, stressing the "yes".

'Well, if it's important and he knows the answer, he'll reply back soon,' the Digidestined of Knowledge cut in. 'But I don't have all that much to go on with right now. The digivice has some data on it, but my computer doesn't have the capacity to download the files; I can't even download a single one. I'll need to find a bigger processing machine before I can work on decoding it.'

'So you think there's something important on those files?' Kari asked.

'Maybe,' Izzy replied. 'Of course, if the digivice was still functional, we may have been able to read directly off it…assuming the files aren't encrypted in some way.'

'What do you mean?' Cody asked.

'Well,' the older boy replied. 'You all recall when I borrowed Yolei's digivice, correct?'

They all nodded.

'I looked at the general scheme and was able to read the majority of its functions,' Izzy explained. 'I downloaded a couple of programmes onto it too if you recall.'

They nodded again.

'However, I wasn't able to use the programme to open up a Digital Gate, nor was I able to read and replicate it so it would work for our older models.'

'Oh, I get it.' Yolei nodded. 'That function didn't work for you because it was my D-3.'

'Exactly.' Izzy snapped his fingers and pointed at her. 'But my computer didn't have any problem reading anything in your digivice though, which makes me wonder exactly what those data files could be.'

'So we'll need to find you a bigger computer.' The thirteen year old sighed. 'If only we hadn't blown up the one at Arukenimon's.'

TK, Kari and Patamon giggled at that.

'I had nothing to do with it,' Gatomon sniffed.

'I know you didn't,' the brunette replied, ruffling her fur. 'How do we know the computer blow anyway?'

'I think BlackWarGreymon actually did the damage,' Tentomon pointed out. 'Although your fight with Arukenimon hadn't exactly left the place in good condition.'

'Huh?' Yolei blinked, then shrugged. 'It must have been something else we blew up.'

'We punched a hole in the washing machine,' Armadillamon offered.

'That's far away from the topic at hand,' Cody said, effectively steering the conversation back on track. 'So we don't know much from the digivice?'

'Well…' Izzy began. 'I think we can safely infer that the digivice belongs to a generation older than you guys, since we know the real and digital worlds went into sync after we defeated Apocylamon, and it is highly unlikely the digivice is any younger than that, judging from its condition. The data files will at least tell us the age, via Digital World time, if nothing else.'

'Is it worth the effort?' the Digidestined of Knowledge and Reliability asked. 'It won't be easy finding a processing system with enough capacity to be able to decode those files. Especially not one you'll be allowed to use.'

'I've thought about that,' Izzy replied. 'And I actually do have an idea. Firstly, Ken's PC has more processing power than mine, doesn't it? And Yolei's is similar.'

There were three shrugs, but Yolei nodded. 'Of course,' she murmured. 'Mine doesn't have a lot of free space on it though, and Ken's is somewhat outdated.'

'That won't be a problem,' the red-head responded. 'What we could do is link the processing capacities of our computers together, and hope the memory is enough. If need be, we can use an external hard-disk for the data storage. Of course, it will be a little tricky bypassing the firewalls without leaving both computers open to virus attack.'

'Why not use our computers too?' Kari asked.

'Same issue: the firewall,' Izzy replied. 'Although if the processing power isn't enough, we may have to. The more ideal situation would be to have them all in the same room, like I did when we dealt with Diaboromon-'

'-so it was you who moved Dad's computer?' The Digidestined of Light giggled. 'He was pretty mad when he came home, but Tai said it wasn't him and Dad believed him.'

Gatomon looked up at her. 'If I recall,' she said. 'You were at a birthday party.'

The brunette grinned sheepishly. 'You never know with Tai,' she confessed. 'I didn't think it was that much of an emergency.'

'Never mind,' TK sighed. 'As it was, I was pretty useless anyway.'

'I resent that,' Patamon muttered from his head. 'Can I have another business?'

'You don't want to be turning into a pig, do you?' A smile quirked the blonde's lips.

'_TK!'_

'Will you be able to reach Ken's computer?' Yolei asked, returning to the original topic. 'I mean, he's all the way in Tamachi.'

'If I can connect to yours, I can connect to his,' Izzy replied. 'It's just a matter of forging a connection, similar to how spy-cams and other sorts of things like that work. I'll send you a file. Make sure you encrypt anything you don't want me to see. The other reason I don't want to use too many computers is that, not only will it be easier for an outsider to hack into any of our systems, but we can see each other's data files, and if there's a virus on the digivice, or on any of our computers, they'll all crash. Of course, I'll check with Ken first. Maybe his computer can handle the data, in which case we won't need to worry about the security issues. It'll be slow going though, because even if he can, he'll only be able to work with one file at a time. If only we could compress it somehow…but it's practically a dead cellphone'

'Even I didn't follow all of that,' Yolei commented after a blank pause.

'Right.' There was another pause. 'I think I'll call Ken.'

* * *

'I'll need to have the device to know for sure,' Ken replied once the Digidestined of Knowledge finished his explanation, receiver wedged between his right shoulder and ear as his hands were busy folding his soccer uniform into the sports bag.

'That's no problem,' Izzy's slightly muffled voice replied. 'One of the others can easily pass it to you through the Digital World. Are you going today?'

'I've got soccer practice soon,' the blue-haired male replied. 'But I was planning on going after dinner. I believe the others said they were going on ahead.'

'They're heading off now,' Izzy said. 'Except Davis. He's been suspended.'

'Suspended?' He felt a little worried. Davis was good at heart, but he did have a habit of getting into rather idiotic situations at times.

'He was kicking a soccer ball around in the corridor and hit a girl in the face. The glasses broke.'

'And the girl is okay?'

'Apparently so, although she had to go home considering how bad her eyesight turned out to be without the lenses.'

'I see.' It could have been worse, but it might be a problem if Davis was out of commission for too long. He hoped not though; there hadn't been any trouble lately. 'I'll give him a call later tonight.'

'Be careful. Mrs Motomiya isn't too thrilled.'

No, she certainly wouldn't be. Particularly if they wound up having to pay for the lenses.

* * *

'I'm so dead,' Davis wailed as he took Ken's call a little before dinner. He was actually surprised his parents had allowed him, but he'd apparently underestimated the effect Ken still seemed to have on some people.

_Thank God Jun's busy with Jim_, he thought with relief. Although that didn't make a whole lot of difference, all things considered. She still though his cohort of male friends were "cute".

Ken didn't bother asking why; he simply waited silently. He knew his friend well enough to know the other would tell him without the prompt.

'Mum and Dad cut my allowance, _and_ I have to pay the cost for those glasses. Until then, zilch. No money, no TV, no computer or video games…and no digital world while I'm suspended from school.'

The last part was said in a whisper.

'How long?'

'Two days.'

Two days wasn't so bad as far as the Digital World was concerned.

'No bus fare either.'

It sounded to Ken like that was the point which worried Davis the most.

'We all can visit you,' Ken pointed out.

'I know…' The sigh dragged a little. 'I swear I didn't see that girl though.' There was a pause. 'I really do feel bad about breaking those glasses, but it was an accident. I can't do anything about that.'

Ken let him rant. There wasn't much he could add anyway. Except…

'I'll help.'

'No you won't,' the other said immediately.

'You're seriously going to make 8000 yen by yourself?'

'10 000 actually,' Davis admitted. 'I thought about maybe getting a paper-run. It's the best I can come up with…well, that and Jun offered half her allowance if I do all her chores for her.'

'The paper runs only give 521 yen a week,' Ken said sceptically.

'So it'll take me four weeks,' the Digidestined of Courage and Friendship said triumphantly.

'It'll take you 19 weeks,' the other corrected after a short pause as he did the calculation in his head. 'Give or take.'

It would only make a small dent in his prize money from the days as a boy genius. He hadn't used much of it; it didn't feel right. But he had a feeling Davis wasn't going to take the help unless an emergency came up.

'I'll live without the TV screen,' Davis said, but his voice sounded a little like a faux-Romeo. 'And I absolutely swear that once I'm out of this mess, I'm never kicking a soccer ball inside again.'

Ken couldn't help but let a small grin escape at that. Davis could always be peppy, no matter what the situation. There was very little doubt he wouldn't find a way to get that 10 000 yen.


	3. Quarrel in the Air

Author's Notes

This chapter has more action and more plot in it. I wonder if anyone else realised Pipsimon is the evolution of Patamon with the Digi-egg of Love. That's actually an important point, more so at this stage than them coming from the Frontier universe. This chapter should show you why, even if it's next chapter with the explanation (or part of it).

Enjoy.

* * *

Crests of Origin

02/04 x-over. Everything came from somewhere. They knew the crest power came from their hearts, but before that they came from the hearts of others. Now they're learning that story as they fight for the future…and the past.

Daisuke M/Davis & Takuya K

* * *

Chapter 3

Quarrel in the Air

The Digital World's habit of redressing the second generation Digidestined could sometimes cause more inconveniences than it was worth, like when they'd wound up in a scorching desert and four out of the six were clothed in winter garb. Even TK had been sweating profoundly under his long-sleeved pullover by the time they left the scene, unable to remove the garment for fear of sunburn; Kari had been the lucky one in that little adventure.

She realised the situation was completely reversed from their desert trek when she shivered from a blast of cold beside TK. They'd managed to master the art of remaining on their feet while travelling between worlds which was a blessing, but the thought that perhaps she would be warmer if they created a human sandwich crossed her mind as she wrapped her arms around herself. Yolei was merry enough; she had a warm jacket and even thicker pants and a snug hat which still let her long hair fly with the wind. Her ears were safe, thanks to the flaps that came down from her head-gear, and her eyes likewise from the glasses. Her cheeks however were rapidly becoming two rosy pink dots on whitening backgrounds as the cold breeze chilled them. It hadn't looked like she had noticed though, stretching towards the lazy sun.

Mountain breeze, Kari realised finally. And she'd been wearing a cosy coat back in the real world too. She shut her eyes a as a particularly fierce gale blew in her face.

'Brr,' Gatomon shivered beside her. 'Couldn't we have picked a better place?'

'It's not as bad as Hokkaido's winter,' Yolei pointed out, but then she was snugly dressed…until she slipped off her jacket (with the vest) and handed it to her DNA-digivolution partner. 'Here.'

'You sure?' Kari asked, hesitant albeit grateful…before she blinked and processed the second layer that had been unveiled. It looked as warm as the first one.

'Why go to Hokkaido?' TK asked as Patamon buried himself into his hat for a little extra warmth. 'This isn't as cold as our winter.'

'Yes it is,' the Digimon chorused.

'You were playing basketball in the period before homeroom,' Cody pointed out to the Digidestined of Hope. 'You're body is probably still warm from the exercise.'

'It's still not as cold as Hokkaido's winter,' Yolei repeated, smoothing the lavender turtle-neck out. Underneath it was a thinner and lighter garment, the level she'd been reduced to in their desert trek. It had still wound up being soaked with perspiration and for modesty's sake she had been forced to replace the outermost vest. The embarrassment had taken a few days to leave though…even if she had looked down for some reason and noticed herself. No-one admitted to having seen anything, though all the boys had turned various degrees of red. And while she could trust Cody, she wouldn't put her money on Davis or TK being entirely truthful about the matter.

In this instance, the removal of her two outermost layers had resulted in her skin raising Goosebumps as a protest against the tolerable cold. As she had stated twice, it wasn't as bad as the winters in Hokkaido, particularly where the temperatures dropped below 0 degrees on the Centigrade scale without even a hint of snow. But the mountain air was fresh and sweet, if chilling, and there was snow collecting on the fir above them.

'My, we seem to have arrived at a good time,' Hawkmon commented at the same moment his partner looked up. The branches were shining with the white powder that dusted it. It wasn't snowing, but the same flakes also seemed to dust the mountain higher up. The TV at a "stopping place" halfway.

'I suppose we'd better get climbing,' Armadillamon sighed. 'Otherwise I'll turn into a digi-icicle before we move.'

* * *

'You know,' Patamon commented once they'd reached the snow-covered top and stared at the black protrusions. 'It's weird BlackWarGreymon didn't destroy all the Control Spires here, or we did when we were trying to hide the Destiny Stone.'

'Sure is,' TK agreed, staring at the Spires. 'Oh well, we'll just have do it now.'

'Flamedramon would be helpful here,' Yolei muttered, but even that couldn't get her spirits down. 'Why didn't we invite Tai and Greymon?'

'He's busy with homework,' Kari replied.

'Studying with Matt and Sora,' the blonde added with a slight smirk.

The purple-haired female cocked her head. 'Is that a good idea?' she asked.

'Sure is,' TK responded. 'See, Tai hardly ever studies by himself, but he'll do it if he's around others studying. And you know how Matt and Sora started dating? Leave them alone for too long and they start getting lovey dovey.' His face twisted into a grimace. 'They're not as bad as most of my brother's fans in the crowd…but Tai being there will keep them focused.'

'But-' The Digidestined of Love and Sincerity protested, but Kari read the question and cut her off.

'It's okay Yolei,' the younger Kamiya said softly. 'Nothing's changed between Tai and them, and if it does, that's for them to sort out without our interference.'

There was a stretch of silence before TK laughed. 'If Davis was here, he might have commented on that.'

'Oh, don't made me mad,' Yolei grumbled, taking out her Digivice. 'That hothead could have actually been of some use.'

That was the cue for more laughter from the group, including Hawkmon. At a glare from his partner, he managed to stifle the chuckles before digivolving into Aquilamon and inviting the rest of them to follow suit.

'Shall we make snowmen while they're busy?' TK asked, looking at the piles of snow.

'Sounds good,' the others agreed.

And there wasn't even Ex-Veemon to protest to the notion.

'Hold on.' Yolei stared at the ball of snow she'd put together. 'Where are Ken and Wormmon?'

'You going to hit him with that snowball?' TK teased, before coughing as the said projectile whacked him in the face. 'Never mind.' He took his hat off, shook both it and his snow-caked hair, before replacing the article. 'Ken's at soccer practice. Didn't he tell you they got changed to Mondays?'

Yolei thought for a moment, before laughing a tad awkwardly. 'He did,' she admitted. 'Must have slipped my mind.'

She wasn't laughing when a snowball hit her in the face.

The return projectile mowed over Cody's half-formed snowman.

* * *

'I can't believe you started the fight without us,' Patamon grumbled.

'We actually didn't mean to,' his partner responded sheepishly. 'Yolei started it.'

'_Ken_ started it,' the eldest of their group countered, attempting to thread the snowflakes out of her hair with Kari's help. The hat had only protected the upper portion, and it was a great deal harder getting the white dust out of long hair. 'Ouch!' she exclaimed as she felt a strand yank.

'Sorry,' Kari murmured, returning to her work with a little additional care, declaring its completion a moment later.

'Well,' the bat-like digimon huffed. 'While you lot were playing, we were working our butts off.'

'And what hands would you have held those snowballs in?' Gatomon yawned, rubbing her fur. 'I'm hungry for fish.'

'It not quite dinner time,' Cody said, looking at his watch. 'We've got a little over half an hour.' He suddenly looked up, as if remembering something. 'Yolei? Could you come over for dinner?'

'Sure.' She blinked, surprised. 'How come?'

Now it was time for the youngest member of their team to look sheepish. 'There's something wrong with the computer.'

'Your grandfather wasn't playing that new game _again_, was he?'

The sheepish look grew. 'Actually, I was the last person to use the computer.'

Yolei raised an eyebrow.

'I wasn't doing anything unusual,' Cody defended himself. 'I was looking something up from the history text and the computer froze. Nothing happened after I rebooted it.'

The trees whistled suddenly and rather loudly as if a torrent of wind had shot through the tiny gaps between leaves and snow. All of them turned to look, before staring as a herd of Mojyamon burst out of the shrubbery below.

'Hey.' They waved with varying degrees of open enthusiasm, before staring as they rushed past in fear and haste. Next came another sheik, this time definitely not from nature, and then a blue ball of energy was tossing the snow up like a cannon's blow.

They shook themselves free from the dust, and again Yolei was the worst off, although Hawkmon struggled too with his feathers. In the end, both of them gave up, turning with the others to look at the suddenly darkening sky.

'I think that's the end of our snowball fight,' Armadillamon observed, squinting as he made out dark shapes rapidly approaching, 'Looks like trouble.'

It was, as a horde of mixed digimon flew at one another…or perhaps it was two separate sides as they soon separated. One was mostly Airdramon, though none of the humans recognised the creature at their head; he was a dragon, hunched and white save the blue armour and wings laced with a red underneath the cyan cover. There were also several replicas of a a different sort of dragon: almost snake like and white but with red stripes and a mane of green. The other side were firebirds; they all recognised Birdramon and the grey digimons who looked similar in comparison must be some relative. There were also several Aquilamon; it was lucky Hawkmon had devolved by that time, otherwise they might have wound up roped into the wrong aspect of a battle. There was a larger digimon too, probably their leader.

'I wonder what they're fighting about,' Cody wondered aloud.

'Yeah.' Yolei frowned furiously; it was a dishonour to flying digimon, and her, to witness such an unrefined fight. Seriously, _they_ had done a whole lot better against BlackWarGreymon during their first encounter and they had been totally outclassed. 'I thought everything was supposed to be peaceful.'

'Well…' TK sighed. 'I suppose it was too good to be true, but should we-'

He cut off and covered his face, the others following suit, as a fireball this time landed too close for comfort.

'I guess we have no choice,' Kari said, her expression set. 'At this rate, they'll hit any innocent bystander and not notice. No wonder those poor Mojyamon were running away. They hate fighting.'

'Leave it to us Kari,' Gatomon declared, curling one gloved paw into a fist.

The brunette nodded, reaching for her D-terminal. 'Digi armour energize!'

Yolei and TK followed suit and the three armour flying digimon took to the sky, each with their respective human upon their back.

'I want wings,' Armadillamon said sorrowfully, watching the three and their partners fly away.

* * *

A whistle blew, sounding across the field and its scattered soccer players and balls.

'That's it,' the couch shouted. 'Good practice today. Ichijouji, you're cleanup today.'

Ken would have rather collapsed on the spot; soccer practice was a lot more difficult now that he didn't have the help of the Dark Spore, but the truth of the matter was that he wouldn't change it for anything. Even if he had to work a lot harder, and more often than not was forced to enjoy a nice hot soak in the bathtub after a strenuous session, the game held far more enjoyment. He and Davis hadn't met in another inter-district match since their fateful away-game in Odaiba, but the new season was starting up so it was possible the time for a rematch would be close in coming. He could no longer match his record; he couldn't even match the eleven goals he'd scored in the second half of the match against Odaiba, but he was still a mean centre-field and a good captain. Soccer had been something he was good at before Sam's death, and the gap between tournaments couldn't have fallen at a better time.

Bending down and picking up the balls were always a chore; most of them wound up kicking the soccer balls into the basket and he did the same, hooking his toes under the curvature before flicking it into the air. A new classmate by the name of Hino stayed behind to help, and while once he would have shunned the prospect, he simply offered a gentle smile and together they cleaned the field and carried the large basket full of balls to the shed.

Once their cargo was safely placed away and the door was padlocked, Ken turned to his companion with a slight bow.

'Thank you for your help,' he said.

'It's no problem,' the other murmured, fiddling with something. It took a moment for the other to recognise the D-3. One that looked the same colour as TK's if he wasn't mistaken.

'You're…' the Digidestined of Kindness began, before rephrasing his astonishment when he saw the other's face in a different context. 'You're one of Oikawa's children.'

The boy nodded with the ghost of a smile. 'I thought you wouldn't recognise me,' he confessed. 'That day was rather…hectic. And there were so many people, so many faces…'

A small blush graced the pale face. 'Considering I tailed you for weeks, it would have been rather difficult to forget your face so easily. It's just that I wasn't looking properly.'

Together, they walked to the changing rooms, suddenly like new friends…which they were, in a sense.

'My parents split up recently,' the aspiring artist explained. 'This was before I met Oikawa and the other children, and you. My Mum was rather stressed; Dad kept calling her. We wound up moving soon after New Year, even though she knew it would be hard to adapt into a new school.' A small frown played upon his lips. 'Particularly a private one. I wondered once whether she thinks I'm still as smart as I was during that small period of time.' But then he smiled. 'I'm glad this school has a cartoon club though. I signed up straight away.'

'I wonder if it's in all parents to expect the best from their children,' Ken mused aloud and somewhat reminiscently as he pushed open the door. 'But they all want what's best for them too, even if we don't always recognise it.'

'Yeah.' The black haired boy looked sad again. 'You lost your brother. Does it get any easier?' Then he winced at the tactlessness of his statement.

'It does,' the other replied after a brief pause. 'But your father's not dead.'

'No, but he might as well be.' His eyes darkened. 'He didn't love either of us.'

'Deep down, I'm sure he did,' the Child of Kindness said softly, before changing the subject. 'Are you behind in anything?'

'Only science,' Hino replied, visibly grateful for the change in subjects. 'I had a few days to read up on Japanese, and our school was ahead in history and math.' He grimaced at the last one. 'But the science is beyond me.'

'I'll help you,' the other offered. 'How about we eat lunch together tomorrow?'

'It won't be a problem, will it?' Hino seemed somewhat tentative.

'Not at all,' Ken assured. 'I could use the company.' Especially since he couldn't always drag Wormmon to school, and that particular day his mother was wanting the other to help with the chimney sweeping…amongst other things. He'd have to finish that up once he got home. Another day he wouldn't be able to go to the Digital World straight after school.

Hino nodded thoughtfully, then accepted the invitation. 'I don't know many people yet, so that would be great.' He paused for a moment, before adding: 'I was on the soccer team at my old school, and there was a vacant position when I applied so the couch was trying me out so he invited me to practice today.'

Ken nodded at that. Their couch had wanted to see how the other played with the team. No doubt their new member would be selected from one of the many hopefuls that had tried out during the latest tryouts and any special circumstances. He'd participated in the tryouts at just before the Christmas break himself; they all had to. Being on the team once did not guarantee a spot in the next half-year. It was a way to get fresh talent on the team and keep it at its maximum working potential, even if it did sometimes come off as cruel. But more people got a chance; there was always a long list of hopefuls that got rejected.

Still, his next words were said with utmost sincerity. 'I hope you make the team.'

The boy beamed at him. 'Thank you…Ken.'

'No worries.' They'd both managed to change by then, and Ken picked up his bag. 'I have to get going now, but I'll see you tomorrow. The corner table if not before that.'

Hino nodded and waved him off with a bit of a smile. He really hadn't thought the other was going to notice him. It had been a bit spur-on-the-moment, helping out with the balls, but it definitely had been worth it. If he dared to say it aloud, he'd say that the whole Dark Spore replica was worth it as well.

After all, he'd gotten a friend out of it. Nyokimon was at home waiting for him…and so was his mother.

* * *

Ken's mother was at work by the time he arrived home, but he had expected that. She'd informed him over breakfast after all. So it was a warm bath which lasted a little longer than it strictly should have, a half jelly roll with Wormmon who'd waited patiently for him, and then figuring out where the others had gone.

It didn't take long. The only problem was that they were at the peak of one of the tallest mountains in the Digital World. He supposed he should be thankful they weren't on _Infinity_ Mountain; he didn't particularly fancy that climb.

'I could digivolve and fly,' Wormmon offered.

'It's a manageable walk,' the other countered. 'It'll do us good after that jelly roll.'

'You just had soccer.' The mandible dropped a little. He wasn't looking forward to crawling with his multiple legs.

'You can ride on my shoulder,' Ken offered, knowing the climb would be steep. They'd lost the nearest TV to the summit in attempting to protect the Destiny Stone, so the next nearest was about halfway up in a semi-large rest point.

But when they got to the Digital World, Wormmon was left with no choice but to evolve and fly his partner up, because the sky was coloured with bursts of light and fire.

* * *

'We might as well not even be here,' Pegasusmon grumbled, shooting a barrage of stars at an attack heading towards ground. 'All we're doing here is diverting attacks.'

'It's better than nothing,' Nefertimon countered, aiming her own stones at the incoming burst of fire and snuffing it out. 'But I wouldn't say they haven't noticed us.'

'Why do you say that?' Kari shouted over the gales and attacks.

'Well, we're only being attacked by the birds, aren't we?' the Egyptian cat pointed out. 'And Halsemon seems to be in the opposite predicament.'

The Digidestined of Light looked over at Yolei and Halsemon (who'd chosen the armour digivolution for fear of being mixed up with one of the other Aquilamon) and noticed her digimon partner was correct. 'I wonder why…' It was said far more quietly, but Nefertimon still heard.

'It looks like a clash between species,' she explained, flying higher. 'Perhaps for territory. It seems the dragon style flyers and the bird ones are in some sort of dispute.'

'So why are we getting attacked?' TK asked, flying closer.

'Either they believe we're a third party in this conflict,' the digimon of Light mused. 'Or they believe us to be a part of _them_.' By "them" she obviously meant the other dragon digimon, but neither of them possessed any remote resemblance to the Airdramon or their companions. 'I highly doubt it's the first, elsewise the others would be attacking us too. Then she quickly dipped again as another attack came at them. Pegasusmon was forced to fly higher still to avoid another beam.

'Queen's Paw!' the angel cried, slicing through another ring of fire. 'Too close,' she sighed soonafter. 'Kari, you okay?'

'Fine,' the brunette called back, gripping the other's back tightly. 'This is somewhat uncomfortable thou-' She cut off as she felt her partner falter slightly in the air. 'Nefertimon, are you okay?'

'I'm fine,' the armour digivolution replied through slightly gritted teeth as she increased the beat of her wings and fired off another attack. 'Just a little busy.'

'If you say so.'

* * *

Far from the pair of Light and Hope, Halsemon faltered in his beats again. 'Hang on,' Yolei shouted, gripping the other's fur tightly as he plummeted downward. 'Halsemon, are you sure you're not hurt?' It hadn't been the first time the other's wing-beat had faltered; it had done so several times already, and with each they had dropped a little lower before rising again in altitude.

'I'm not hurt,' the other managed, though the strain was evident in his voice. 'I just feel like…I'm losing energy…' His voice trailed off suddenly, and before either of them could catch what was happening, they were both falling from the sky as Halsemon lost his grip on his armour digivolution, reverting back to rookie form.

Yolei wasn't afraid of flying; she rode on her partner's back as if she'd been riding griffins or birds her entire life. But she was afraid of falling without aim; anyone would be, seeing the ground rushing up to meet her. Her hair whipped around her, the wind threatening to yank it out by the roots. Her hat flew off somewhere. Her jacket and vest were keeping Kari warm. Her D-3 and D-terminal were hopefully in her pocket.

She squeezed her eyes shut, not worrying about whether the glasses were still on her face or not. It was hardly the thing to be thinking about. Instead, she hoped TK or Kari would have noticed them fall and catch them, or Hawkmon would. What was wrong with him anyway? How'd he just suddenly devolve like that?

It wasn't until she landed heavily on something, breath rushing out of her mouth, that she opened her eyes. When she did, she screamed slightly upon seeing the world spread out behind her while her legs had no support, before realising something had a tight grip on her arm as she dangled in mid-air.

And then Ken was helping her up into Stingmon's remaining and more comfortable forearm as Hawkmon managed to pull up and stop his descent above them.

Cody and Armadillamon were left on the mountain's peak, helplessly looking on.


	4. Digieggs Without the Yolk

Author's Notes

It's a tad shorter than the last chapter, but works best I think.

And guess what? I got my first 1,000 hits (actually, with the first two chapters). I've never gotten so many hits so fast before. Thanks everybody. *big bear hug*

Exams finish on the fourteenth, and then hopefully we'll be seeing some of the Frontier Gang in the next chapter. And a longer chapter too.

Enjoy.

* * *

Crests of Origin

02/04 x-over. Everything came from somewhere. They knew the crest power came from their hearts, but before that they came from the hearts of others. Now they're learning that story as they fight for the future…and the past.

Daisuke M/Davis & Takuya K

* * *

Chapter 4

Digieggs without the Yolk

TK and Kari let out simultaneous sighs of relief when Stingmon appeared, Yolei in his arms. The sudden de-digivolution had shocked them, and they apparently weren't as side-lined as they had originally thought as the bird digimon took the opportunity to blast them, forcing a prompt counter-attack. By the time the smoke had cleared, neither Hawkmon nor his partner were anywhere to be seen.

Luckily, they, along with Stingmon and Ken, had appeared within a minute of that incident. Seeing as the situation didn't appear to be getting worse, the pair of light and hope stayed put. Finding an exit route would have been rather difficult.

'Are you guys okay?' Kari shouted down, but her voice was swallowed as Nefertimon tilted skyward again. She saw Yolei waving and her lips moving, but she was unable to hear the other's words as well. She opened her mouth to try again – but her attention was diverted when she felt Nefertimon's wings falter again. 'Nefertimon!'

'I'm fine Kari,' the other insisted, shooting off another barrage of stones. 'But we'd better stop this fighting.'

'That's easier said than done partner,' Pegasusmon hollered, countering the Birdramons' flame with his Star Shower. 'If only we could split them up.'

'Let's do it then,' the angel agreed, flying down to meet him.

Their anklets glowed simultaneously and they shot in opposite directions, each with the cry of: 'Golden Noose!'

The string didn't quite succeed in its function, but Stingmon dropped off his cargo with Cody and Armadillamon and flew up to help. With a rapid-fire storm of kicks, he managed to separate the two groups onto either side of the golden barrier…although both teams looked equally hostile and the thread would in no way prevent them from long-range attacks.

'Now how about-' Pegasusmon began, before letting out a shout as the noose dragged from the re-emergence of fire and energy. He ducked a burst of blue wind instinctively, temporarily forgetting his connection to Nefertimon. The consequence however, particularly since the angel had flown up at the same time, sent the female duo flying out of control.

In the middle of the tumble, the angel of Light suddenly devolved. This time, it was TK and Pegasusmon to the rescue, leaving the cat held by the scruff of her neck and Kari dangling by the horse's side, her wrist firmly held in the blonde's grip.

* * *

'I do believe we have a bit of a problem,' Hawkmon commented as the pair of Hope managed to catch the duo of Light.

'You didn't have any of Digitamamon's soup did you?' Yolei asked rhetorically, recalling the last time their digimon hadn't been able to hold their forms.

'Of course not.' The hawk appeared to be somewhat scandalised. 'And I doubt Patamon and Gatomon did either, but Nefertimon's also dedigivovled and I think Pegasusmon's getting there.'

They all looked at the horse and realised the bird had a point. Pegasusmon's wing beats appeared to be failing too; they'd dropped almost a metre in the sky in the last few minutes, and there was little doubt that, should an attack hit them, they'd be plummeting to the earth too.

'Stingmon!' Ken yelled, cupping his hands. It was unlikely the insectoid heard the words, but he evidently caught the gist of the voice because he went speeding towards them…and just in time too, catching TK and Kari in each arm and Gatomon on his helmet. Patamon managed to catch his descent in midair, much like Hawkmon before him.

'No fair,' the bat-like digimon complained, before ducking under the blows. 'What are we going to do now?'

'Stingmon?' That was Kari. 'Maybe you should let us down, before…' She stopped, knowing full well her words sounded a little condescending, but Stingmon either didn't pick up on it or understood the kind intention for he followed her request, weaving through the fire that followed them. He hadn't the time to touch the ground however; he simply set them down and took back to the air, a trail of fire and Burst Wings following as the dragons took him in as one of his own.

* * *

Stingmon was evidently attempting to break up the fight (or find out what was going on), but it was obvious from the mountain's peak that neither attempt was going particularly well. Their only God-send was that both sides appeared equally matched, therefore amounting to no current casualties…elsewise they'd have had to watch Digimon die right in front of them for no good reason. And they'd all had enough of that.

'Aargh,' Yolei cried finally, scrunching her hands into fists. 'What's with them? I've half a mind to march right in there!'

'How are you going to manage that?' Cody asked reasonably. 'Halsemon, Nefertimon and Pegasusmon were all unable to keep their armour forms, and Stingmon's completely outmatched.'

'He makes the rest of us look like weaklings,' Gatomon grumbled, still a little embarrassed about having to be caught like a house-hold pet…twice. 'It's not like those Spires put up a fight.'

There was a twinge of guilt remnant from the days wherein he had built the abominations, but he pushed it aside. This wasn't the time for that, and Gatomon was right. _They_ didn't put up much of a fight, and through time the digimon had become capable of digivolving several times in the span of twenty-fours if they had to…all the way up to Mega. Tiredness was unlikely to be a factor affecting the sudden dedigivolution…which only left the digi-eggs.

'I wonder if there's something wrong with the digi-eggs,' the Digidestined of Kindness mused aloud. 'Stingmon seems to be fine.'

Fine was a rather relative term, but it was the truth.

'Maybe,' Cody agreed. 'Gatomon, were you tired before?'

'Enough to want a cat-nap,' the feline confessed. 'Rain does that to cats.'

'It's not raining now though,' Kari pointed out, a slight frown playing on her lips. 'You didn't mention this.'

'It was no time for a catnap,' Gatomon muttered defensively, before stifling a yawn. 'Bleugh…'

'Agreed,' Patamon mumbled from atop TK's hat. 'I'm tuckered out for now.'

'Well, I feel fine,' Hawkmon said, blowing up his feathers. 'Although I must admit I felt rather exhausted momentarily.'

'So it's the digieggs,' Ken concluded.

Yolei hung her head. 'That could be a problem.' Then she pressed her lips into a thin line, watching the battle rage on as Stingmon ducked yet another attack. The insectoid was fast and resilient, but how much longer would he last? Particularly since he seemed to be having little effect on his surroundings. 'Maybe we can try DNA digivolution,' she suggested after a brief pause.

Gatomon and Patamon shrugged. They were more than willing to give it a try.

'Are you two sure you're up to it?' TK asked.

'You worry too much.' Patamon sounded perkier already. 'C'mon, digivolve me.'

In the end, they wound up with Aquilamon, Angelmon, Ankylamon and Gatomon staring at each other.

'Aargh,' Yolei cried again. 'Isn't anything going to go right today?'

The four champions shrugged, each looking a different degree of "put out".

'I can still lend a hand,' Angemon declared, taking to the sky to assist Stingmon. The next moment, his Hand of Fate was flying through the air-borne digimon with no effect.

'That rules out the possibility of them being evil,' the Digidestined of Light pointed out, a little redundantly as Angemon swung his staff instead with a little more success, managing to cut between the white snake-like dragon and a Birdramon.

'Probably a territorial fight,' Gatomon muttered. 'I wonder if I can digivolve into Angewomon.'

'Hold that thought,' Anklyamon cried as blue eyes focused on them. 'I think we've been spotted.'

Blue wind suddenly came hurling down on them.

'Blast Rings!' Aquilamon shouted, parrying the blow. The back-lash still sent snow flying around them, but they were too occupied to brush the powder off like before.

'Aquilamon,' Yolei spoke after the white digimon attempted to attack again, only to be re-parried. 'I think it's mistaken you for one of _those_ digimon.'

There was an audible sigh before he devolved into Hawkmon. The blue eyes from the white dragon scanned over the white-covered peak before the form returned to the sky.

'I'd say,' TK began after a pause. 'That it's more than a territorial fight.' Another pause. 'Who was that anyway?'

'Quetzalmon,' Ken replied. 'They're normally in deserts or forests though, despite being ice digimon.' He didn't remember ever seeing any though. Perhaps it was before the whole Digimon Emperor fiasco; his memories were still largely blurred. It was just one of those things he knew but didn't understand.

The others looked at him. 'Do you recognise the big dragon too?' Kari asked.

Ken shook his head. 'I'm sorry, but I don't.'

Well…that was certainly unusual.

'Oh, who cares?' Yolei grumbled eventually. 'What we need to do is stop them!'

But even with Angemon and Stingmon shouting together – or that's what they assumed the audible shout was – they appeared to be having little progress.

They heard another shout, and this time they managed to hear the words: 'Quit fighting already!'

Alas, the two groups of digimon were too fiercely occupied in their battle to knock their opponents out of the air to listen, much less obey.

That was, until a burst of multicoloured energy burst through the sky, lighting it with all the colours of the rainbow and more aside. Everyone stopped their movement and stared at the beautiful sight.

The next moment, they were staring with horror as every Birdramon and Aquilamon were immediately disintegrated. The larger green bird, their leader, was also struck but he was lucky enough to devolve instead.

'Hey,' TK exclaimed suddenly. 'That's the digimon we saw eight years ago. I can't believe I didn't notice.'

'Never mind that,' the others yelled as Angemon and Stingmon were likewise hit. 'Oh no,' Kari gasped soonafter. The rest had kept their silence as Hawkmon quickly flew to catch them.

'Yolei!' he shouted.

'Right,' the female returned, pulling out her D-3 for a third digivolution.

* * *

'You guys brought him back?' Izzy asked, exasperated. 'Weren't the Gotsumon enough?'

'We couldn't just leave him,' Kari protested, cradling the little Tokomon who was still unconscious. 'Especially since all his friends were killed.'

The Digidestined of Knowledge left the topic, shifting back onto the original conversation.

'So you're saying the dragons and the birds were fighting, and then a burst of energy came out of the sky and destroyed them all?'

'Yep,' TK nodded. 'That's about it.' Patamon was in his hands, also unconscious. 'They got Angemon and Stingmon too.'

Wormmon was asleep on Ken's blazer. There were no injuries any of them could discern, but Izzy had contacted Joe and the Doctor-in-Training was on his way with a promised check-up.

'That is worrying.' He pursed his lips. 'But Gatomon may have been right; it is rather drastic for a territorial fight though. Animals typically force their opposition away. They rarely go for the kill.' He deliberated for a moment. 'You didn't get a glimpse of the digimon?'

Five shaking heads greeted him.

'Or a picture?'

He looked specifically at Kari, who shook her head again.

'Could I borrow a digivice then?'

They looked at him, before TK's lips formed an 'o' of understanding.

'That programme Gennei gave you during our first journey,' he realised, before withdrawing his D-3 and handing it to the other. 'I hope _it_ saw something, considering we didn't.'

'Me too,' Izzy confessed. 'We've already got two mysteries to solve after all.' He extracted his notebook from the bookbag leaning against his chair and booted it up. While he waited, he returned to the second problem. 'So you think there's something wrong with the digi-eggs? That's intriguing, albeit worrying.'

Ken nodded, having been the first to come to the conclusion.

'Hmm…' The Digidestined of Knowledge thought for a moment. 'And Hawkmon felt fine as Aquilamon?'

The hawk nodded. 'Rather,' he said. 'Although I admit I felt somewhat drained as Halsemon.'

'Hmm…' the teen mused again, before taking the D-3 and plugging it into his computer. Gennei had apparently not foreseen the digivices would change and thus the newer models wouldn't fit into the port, however, thanks to some help from Willis in Colorado, he'd managed to work around that. All it required was plugging a generically built wire into the port, and the D-3 was connected.

After a moment of going through the images, he stopped. 'Found it.'

They all stared at the blaze cutting across the sky. This time, all of them could see a shadow stretched behind it, hands reaching out to throw the energy across.

'So, that's..?' Yolei began uncertainly.

'Still working on that,' her mentor replied, tapping away. It took another few minutes for the screen to change. 'All right, got it.'

The relief was audible in the room. That was, at least, one mystery solved.

'He's a member of the Royal Knights.' Then he frowned. 'It's an extinct species. Except for Magnamon and Omnimon that is.'

'Magnamon?' Ken asked, looking up from his partner, having largely been elsewise occupied when the actual digivolution had taken place…and he'd been absent for the second encounter. 'Isn't that what Veemon digivolved into with the Digiegg of Miracles?'

'Yes it is,' Izzy confirmed. 'And apparently that was the first sighting of him for hundreds of years. This is rather vague.' He frowned slightly. 'There isn't much detail at all on any of the Royal Knights. Just an image of a carving in the Maze.'

He turned the screen towards the others and they all stared at the ancient drawing, worn away by age but still kept by varnish in a visible condition. There were twelve digimon, drawn in a circle. All of them recognised Magnamon, and the digimon next to him did seem to fit into the shadow. They also recognised Omnimon on Magnamon's other side. But the others were unfamiliar.

'So…what does this mean?' Cody spoke up finally.

'To be honest,' the Digidestined of Knowledge replied. 'I have no idea. Maybe this digimon isn't as extinct as everyone thought. But he resembles a dragon. It's perfectly possible it was simply a case of him helping out his fellow dragons.'

'Helping?' TK repeated, tone rising. 'He killed over a dozen digimon and injured three more.'

'I didn't say what he did was right _or_ good,' Izzy responded calmly. 'But perhaps to him those digimon were the enemy and he was simply helping his friends. It's either that or we've got a new enemy on our hands.'

'Somehow I don't think that's it,' Kari murmured, somewhat unexpectedly.

Everyone stared at her, except for the three unconscious digimon.

'What makes you say that?' TK asked finally.

She thought for a moment, and then shrugged. 'It felt familiar,' she explained softly. 'Like I'd seen it somewhere before, but I'm pretty sure I haven't.' Her forehead creased, before she shrugged. 'I don't really know.'

'I guess it's not important,' the red-haired teen said eventually. 'But I'll tell Tentomon to keep a sharp lookout for anything new.'

The door slid open at that point, revealing Joe and his first-aid kit.

* * *

The dragon digimon circled the peak; the air was theirs. Quetzalmon, Airdramon, and AeroVeedramon at their head. All around a taller digimon, white, pale blue, gold and red, with dragon wings lined in purple.

Dynasmon.

'Enough.' It was a single word, but they all followed the command. 'This land wasn't all that was stolen from you.'

The effect was instantaneous; the roar thundered across the sky, an accomplishment that even thunder struggled to match.

'We will get it all back, won't we?'

The anger turned into cheers of vigour. They'd seized back one portion of the land they'd lost over time. Soon, they'd get it all back.

Justice would be served. And they would serve that justice in return.


	5. Redistribution Part 1

Author's Notes

Phew. Made it before the next chapter's date…barely. One of these days, I'll get my writing back on track…

You know Crusadermon's gender crisis? For simplicity's sake, she's a female in this fic.

Another tidbit: if you drag in the kanji for Koichi's name into the Google translate for a transliteration, you get Terukazu instead of Kouichi. It's like Light's Japanese name in Death Note. Written as Tsuki and pronounced as Raito.

And I wound up having to split the chapter. Hence the Part 1/Part 2.

Enjoy.

* * *

Crests of Origin

02/04 x-over. Everything came from somewhere. They knew the crest power came from their hearts, but before that they came from the hearts of others. Now they're learning that story as they fight for the future…and the past.

Daisuke M/Davis & Takuya K

* * *

Chapter 5

Redistribution Part 1

There were some perks to having a mask for a face. While it was initially the fault of the humans and their numerous facades behind wish they hid, it had developed into something physical as stray data latched onto the idea. The ribbons were a different matter altogether; they were the semblance of femininity at its height: a mix of beauty coupled with finesse and the harsh biting sting that could be a woman's wrath incurred. The perks? She was beautiful, strong and mysterious all at once.

She was also rather discontent, watching an army of Knightmon plough through land and digimon before her. The politics of land distribution was rather tiresome after all; she was no politician but rather a figurehead with a sword at her fingertips…or a king directing her pieces. The Knightmon were the pawns, clearing the way. Her colleague was doing the same on the mountain-spread with his dragon-spawn. She had the flat land for the time being: the pastures quickly torn down. While millennia had passed since her disposition and eventual regrowth, the fundamentals had remained the same even as all else had so drastically changed. As a Kotemon, she had struggled through a warping world, the ground sliding out from under her as Spiral Mountain began to take its shape. Years after, bits of her memories returned. A little later, the purpose thereof.

Still, there was a stone in the pit of her stomach as she watched the land crumble beneath her and the digimon soak as many bits of data as they could salvage. She knew what she was doing…or overseeing in this case, and she believed in the cause. But it felt, from her current view-point, that there was no value in it.

Crusadermon sighed, ribbons whipping around her. Fences toppled, and a Gotsumon burst into bits of data.

For a moment, there was a figure in blue, protecting the Rookie.

Non-existent lips twisted into a frown as she recalled that same figure in blue barrelling into her with the force of light.

* * *

Koji groaned, muttering something illegible before burrowing his face into his pillow. Unfortunately, that didn't get rid of the flashing, or the annoying ring-tone, so he was eventually forced to relinquish all holds on sleep and pick up.

'Minamoto,' he snapped irritably, not caring who in particular was on the other end of the line.

'You're quite joyful this morning,' Takuya's amused voice greeted him.

The black-haired man sighed, sparing the digital clock at his bedside a glance before throwing aside his covers. 'My one chance to sleep in,' he grumbled, 'and you just had to ruin it.'

There was a boisterous laugh from the other end. 'Says the guy who normally wakes up at the crack of dawn?'

'Unlike you Takuya, I don't get weekends with my job.'

'Hey.' If they were face to face, no doubt the brunette would be raising his hands in a peace offering. In fact, he may have still done that; it wasn't like the other was present to check. 'It was your own career choice.' A pause, and then Takuya quickly added: 'I called to remind you about the anniversary.'

'I don't need reminding.' It was the whole reason he had wheedled a day off from his supervisors. And nothing short of nuclear warfare was going to drag him back on duty.

'There's no need to snap at me.' The easy-going manner was yet to falter, even after ten years had passed. Or nine. It depended on the event under consideration; somehow, several of the most important events of his life had happened upon the same date. His birthday…_their_ birthday more like, paled in significance to the joint occurrences of –

'Hey. You didn't fall asleep on me, did you?' Takuya's voice cut through his inner musings.

'No.' Koji sighed, let the bite out of his tone, and rolled out of bed. There was no point staying in – even if it was irresistibly warm.

'So you were asleep.' There was a noise of triumph. 'Seriously, you probably suck as an under-'

'Glad you think so,' Koji quickly cut in, irritation now genuine and for reasons other than being forced out of an empty bed. Didn't the idiot know phone lines weren't wholly safe?

And he'd forgotten to ask why the other was up so early too.

'Honestly Koji.' The exasperated tone told the other that he _was_ aware…or at least aware of the cause of annoyance. 'I'm amazed you haven't admitted yourself into the nearest psychiatric institution.'

Of all the phrases the pair tossed at one another, that was one that provoked an unusual response.

'Are you calling me a head-case?' Koji half-spluttered, almost dropping the phone, and in consequence, kicking one of his slippers under the bed. Cursing under his breath, he ducked down to retrieve it amidst the chuckles from his cell-phone.

'That was you,' Takuya managed, after he'd gotten his giggles under control.

'You giggle like a girl,' was the best the other could come up with upon notice. Of course, it only made Takuya laugh again.

'Geez, you're going to give me a ruptured spleen.'

'Then maybe I'll have a few minutes to myself.'

'With your hundred phones running off the hook?' Amused scepticism laced the tone.

'I don't have that many phones.' Once again, Takuya managed to come out on top.

'Seriously?' There was a pause. 'Just get out of bed and make sure you're at the park on time…and could you ring Zoe and JP?'

Koji rolled his eyes at the veiled mirror, ignoring the fact that the other was blind to his actions at the current point in time. 'What did you say to her this time?'

'What makes you think _I _said something?' Takuya asked, sounding offended…but also guilty.

'What did you say?' Koji repeated.

'Uhh…well…see ya.' The last bit was hurriedly garbled, the beeping signalling he had hung up following seconds later.

Koji sighed, before scrolling down his contacts list. It didn't take very long; his personal cell-phone only had the numbers of his family and close friends.

Then he called Zoe…hoping meanwhile that it would be JP who picked up the phone…or their three year old son.

* * *

Zoe yawned tiredly as she wrung out the bedsheets. If the weather hadn't been so dreary of late, she would have left the task to more godly hours. But if she did that, their son would be lacking his sheets the following night.

Raising their first child was tough. Especially since it seemed JP was hopeless when it came to the laundry. Or perhaps the term was "grossed out"…not that his teddy-bear of a husband would admit it.

She led a smile slide over her face as she expelled the last of the excess water and unravelled the sheets, before grabbing a handful of pegs and the window keys.

The next moment, she was forced to surrender them all when the phone rang – so the other two occupants of their cosy apartment could sleep in for another ten minutes.

'Shibayama residence,' she mumbled into the receiver, quickly drying her hands and recalling safety regulations a little late.

'It's Koji,' Koji's voice responded, still sounding vaguely annoyed.

'Let me guess. Takuya put you up to it.'

'…what did he do?'

The blonde couldn't help but emit a chuckle at that. 'Remember last year?' she asked instead.

He didn't.

'He woke us up at one in the morning with a baseball for Terukazu. As if two year olds play baseball. Honestly, a soccer ball would have been better.'

Koji repressed a chuckle at the woman's rant. It was just like Takuya to do something like that, and just like Zoe to refuse to admit she had, despite the inconvenience, been touched by the gesture. Particularly due to their failed relationship in junior high school – which had left the group dynamics wavering at the edge of a cliff for a time.

Obviously, they'd all gotten back on track…and well before their graduation.

'So…what are you ringing for?'

Typical Zoe.

'Takuya wanted me to remind you two about our meeting at the park.'

'No need to make it sound so formal,' the blonde chided lightly, before grumbling: 'Why does that idiot always think _we_ need reminding? He's the one who's always late.'

She paused as the door slid open, and she quickly shushed the receiver before turning to JP.

'Alarm,' he said by way of explanation, rubbing sleep out of his eyes with one hand and carrying a new set of clothes with the other. 'And if that's Takuya, tell him I've got a half-day today.'

'It's Koji,' Zoe replied.

'Finally handed over the torch.' A pause, and then JP added: 'I'll bet he's scared after last year's incident.'

'Oh hush. I wasn't that bad.'

'Can you two act all lovey-dovey after I hang up the phone?' Koji interrupted.

'Oh, sorry.' Zoe didn't know whether to blush or laugh at that. In the end, she settled for neither; somehow, Koji had made her feel like she was back in high-school with that comment. 'How about you? You're normally at work by now; we always wind up having midnight conversations…well, you and JP in any case.' She added the last bit as an afterthought, as she herself was normally in bed by that point, preparing for the early morning. Their son still hadn't managed to break his habit of night-terrors and bed-wetting. 'I haven't heard your voice in months.' Then something clicked in her mind and she additionally scolded: 'You didn't even come over to that Christmas dinner.'

'There was that kidnapping case,' the black-haired male replied.

'Oh yeah…it was all over the news.' Her casual tone didn't fool either of them. 'No more surveillance.'

'No. I took the day off today in any case.'

'That's good.' Absentmindedly, she listened to the shower running in the other room. 'You need a break. What are you planning on doing?'

'I _was_ planning on sleeping in, but Takuya spoilt that. Seriously, since when does he get up before seven?'

'It's his brother's birthday,' Zoe pointed out, before somewhat changing tracks. 'How about visiting your father?'

'It's his and Satomi's anniversary,' Koji pointed out, before reconsidering. 'Maybe…'

'Don't forget how your father is in the mornings.'

* * *

'At least Dad would make Mum sleep,' TK mumbled to himself, quickly toasting some bread (they were out of all cereals and conventional Japanese breakfast spreads simply took too long). 'Then she wouldn't be up till five in the morning, and _then_ she'd be awake to wake me in time for school!'

Patamon peered down from the white hat, sitting on top of damp hair. 'Why have a shower?' he asked, wincing slightly as he flexed his wings. Joe might be the best Doctor around, but even he didn't have three-second miracles at his fingertips. 'You might have had time to eat something differ-woah.' The little hands dug into the hat as TK, grabbing the toast that popped out, raced around the table-top for his book-bag.

'See you later Mum!' he yelled, slamming the door behind him with a foot. 'Hey, hold that elevator!'

Someone must have heard, as the doors remained open to invite him in. Catching himself against the silvery surface, the blond gasped out his thanks.

'Ooh, a real live digimon!'

The boy, a few years older than him and who had held the elevator, gave him a bit of a helpless look as the girl in pigtails grabbed his shirt. Standing on her toes and using TK as a support, she peered curiously at the small bat. If she were any taller, she probably would have poked the rookie – which Patamon was thankful for, as his aches and pains were yet to fully depart.

'I want one,' she squealed. 'It's so cute.' She suddenly turned to glare at her brother. 'Much cuter than Poodles.'

'Poodles is a guard-dog,' the boy replied, looking somewhat offended. 'He's not supposed to be cute.'

'Is too.'

The girl in pig-tails let go of TK and crossed her arms, giving said boy the chance to sprint once the elevator doors opened at ground floor.

'Please, don't make me scrub chewing-gum off the desks again,' he prayed to some unknown deity. _Particularly since Davis is still suspended._

He made it to his seat with precisely three seconds to spare.

* * *

'Mr Takaishi, are you paying attention?'

The blond's head snapped up. 'Yes sir,' he stuttered, a little late.

Luckily, the teacher simply gave him a reprimanding look before continuing to write a question on the black-board.

Kari, beside him, let out a giggle.

'Miss Kamiya?'

'Yes sir?' she responded innocently.

'Perhaps you would like to answer this question?' He tapped the black-board with a hint of impatience.

Luckily, it was a relatively simple one. The brunette didn't think she was capable of matching her brother when it came to escaping that sort of awkward situation. In truth, she was barely caught in lapsing attention…but then again, she wasn't perfect.

'Two,' she answered after a minute of mental calculations.

The teacher stared at her. 'That is correct.'

The bout of distraction was forgotten as he droned out an explanation.

* * *

'Mr Takaishi, please wait a moment.'

There went his hopes for escaping for art class without a reprimand. To his surprise though – once Kari had gone on ahead and he himself approached the teacher's desk – the math expert simply handed him a few sheets of paper. More specifically, the worksheets they had worked through that day, and an additional copy of the night's homework.

'Please make sure Mr Motomiya receives them,' the man said in a monotone. 'I do not wish to give him another excuse to have not completed his homework.'

'Of course sir.' Somehow, manners seemed like a more reasonable reaction than laughter.

* * *

Davis yawned, flicking off the TV. 'I'm so _bored_.' The last word dragged with the yawn.

No-body was home…except Veemon, and the other was currently munching on a candy-bar in his bedroom. His parents were at work, and Jun over at her university. Him…he was stuck at home for the day. And there was nothing good on TV.

He wondered if he was desperate enough to complete his homework. He decided after a few minutes that he _was_…and after a couple of hours that it was a mistake. What was he going to do for the rest of the afternoon? Or tomorrow for that matter.

* * *

'I'll bet my brother's playing his tenth video game,' Jun muttered to herself as the rare sun hit her face. 'Or twentieth.'

'I imagine your brother likes video games very much then,' came the unexpected response.

Jun jumped a little, before gaping at her new companion. 'Oh, I didn't see you there.' She took a closer look at the boy (or perhaps man would be more accurate) who stood before her. Light brown hair, gorgeous green eyes – wait! Did she just think gorgeous? She shook her head. One crush at a time was quite enough.

'Mind if I sit,' the brunette asked.

'Feel free,' Jun replied. 'And yeah, my brother's a craze for video-games. That's about all he does…when he's not eating, or playing soccer, or sav-' She cut herself off somewhat awkwardly; it still took some getting used to to think of Davis as a super-hero of sorts, and particularly in a world many people only knew existed within the past few weeks.

'Saving the world?' the other completed. 'Your Jun Motomiya, correct?'

She blinked at him. 'Yeah, but I don't know who you are.'

He laughed a little sheepishly. 'I'm Tommy Himi,' he replied. 'Sorry, completely forgot. You're in my brother's English classes.'

'Dr. Yutaka?' Now that she cocked her head, she could see more of a resemblance. 'Am I that worthy of mentioning?'

Surprisingly, Tommy blushed. 'Er…well…your brother?' He quickly changed the subject. He would be Davis I guess.'

'I'm almost afraid to ask how you know him.'

'I don't actually,' the brunet admitted. 'A friend of mine coaches a soccer team, and they play against Odaiba almost every year.'

'I guess it is a small world,' Jun grinned. 'Now, what made you think he goes out saving the world?'

'I see my friend's games quite often when I don't have classes at that time.' Tommy shrugged. 'It's quite easy to pick out one of the star players of the opposing team with a Demi-Veemon on his head.'

Ironically, the other's abundance of information was not as disturbing as it normally would be. There was something innocent and kind about his expression, something endearing. It was hard to be suspicious of someone with a face like _that_.

'I should be though,' she commented offhand.

'Excuse me?' The green eyes blinked in surprise.

'I'm just wondering how you know so much about me.' Jun put a thumb under her chin. 'It's almost…stalkerish.'

'It is not,' the other spluttered, going red.

'Relax. I'm just kidding.' The burgundy-haired woman grinned. 'So, what gave the Veemon away? I didn't think his name was advertised.'

'Er…well…that's a long story,' Tommy laughed awkwardly. 'I would like a closer look though; I'm a game designer…or I will be once I graduate.'

'I'm planning on being an Air Hostess,' Jun admitted. 'It seems a little silly, but-'

'But there's nothing wrong with it.' The other's tone seemed both firm and light. 'I had a friend that wanted to become an Air Hostess – Er, that's not the one I was talking about before.'

'I should think not.'

'No. But she realised it was just her way of running away from things and changed her mind. She accounts for her husband now. He does contracting work.'

'Oh?' Then she blinked as Tommy mirrored the action, catching sight of the clock's face beyond them.

'I'll late,' he said by way of explanation as he stood, looking wistfully at the bento box he'd taken out…and failed to open. Shrugging, he put it away. 'It's only one hour. I'll see you around some time.' That last part was directed particularly at Jun, who grinned in a half-way teasing manner.

'Do you make it a habit of talking to all the pretty girls?'

'No,' Tommy said with perfect seriousness. 'I talk to the ones who stand up for the right thing…especially when other people don't.'

Jun had to admit she had no idea what the other meant by that last statement…and wasn't given ample time to ask.

* * *

'Davis? Can we go to the Digital World? Please?'

'My parents will kill me if they find out Demi-Veemon.' The idea was tempting though. _Very_ tempting. Particularly as even homework had failed him.

And he'd thought once upon a time he would never be bored enough to do homework.

'Please Davis?' The blue digimon dropped the D-3 in Davis' lap.

'But-' he began, before the screen began flashing. 'Oh oh.'

'Oh oh,' Demi-Veemon agreed, before staring. 'Why? What's wrong? Lemme see! Lemme see!'

'I don't get it.' Davis scratched his head. 'You're right here, so why is this thing flashing?'

* * *

Dynasmon sighed, looking over the new mountain. While they had left smoking snow behind, the scorching rock provided little change in scenery. His dragons flew in a circle, firing and raining down upon the earth, and in minutes data streams were stemming from the soil as smaller digimon ran for cover and the larger ones fruitlessly attempted to stand their ground. None found even a single opportunity to fire. They knew now that mercy would only cause more trouble.

Ploughing through was far easier, and no-one was strong enough to stand up to _him_.

That was why it was somewhat surprising when a line of Shadramon suddenly barred their way.

'What is this?' he asked, amusement entering his tone as he met the unwavering gazes.

The answer failed to reach his ears over the roars of his dragons and the gusts of wind. However, the gazes reminded him of another airborne group, well in the past. The group of digimon that had crumbled before their heroes flew to their rescue…too late.

And if it hadn't been for a variety of reasons, they would have triumphed over those very so-called "heroes". But their failure would not be repeated.

_ 'If those brave children can stand and fight, then so can we!'_

He smirked, readying his arms for a battle. 'The same foolish mistakes. Let us see who triumphs in this time.'

The roar thundered around rocky mountain.


	6. Redistribution Part 2

Author's Notes

Once a month updates for now, until the story picks up again or other ones finish and I have more time on my hands. And sorry for the lateness too; still behind. This is (hopefully) going to be updated every month between the fifteenth and the eighteenth. On the bright side, I'm now back on schedule with the monthly updates (of sorts – not counting new fandoms).

And I had to rewrite the middle because I forgot about the cliffhanger flashing in the last chapter. Totally my bad.

Enjoy.

* * *

Crests of Origin

02/04 x-over. Everything came from somewhere. They knew the crest power came from their hearts, but before that they came from the hearts of others. Now they're learning that story as they fight for the future…and the past.

Daisuke M/Davis & Takuya K

* * *

Chapter 6

Redistribution Part 2

'It's been a while since we've all been together.'

'It has.'

'It _would_ be, if we were all together.'

Three heads snapped to Koji, each sprouting a different variance of awkwardness.

'Uhh…'

Koji's face softened slightly. 'I was talking about Takuya.'

JP laughed sheepishly. 'Whoops. I thought-hey!' His habit of speaking his mind hadn't changed, but fate, it appeared, had dealt a kinder hand when Takuya came running up, soccer ball tucked under one hand and a stack of pizza-boxes under the other.

'Made it,' he cried over-dramatically, collapsing on the ground. 'Man, those kids are hopeless today. I don't know how, but they'd better shake this slack off before Saturday –'

'They're going up against the only kid to ever best Ken Ichijoji,' Tommy pointed out. 'That can be a confidence killer.'

'True,' the elder brunette agreed. 'But they knocked this team out of the running.'

'Of course they did. Eleven goals before a trip.'

'I was talking about _my_ team Tommy.'

Zoe giggled before Takuya could get too worked up. 'You speak as if they're your kids.'

'Well, I don't have a real one.'

They all looked at Terukazu racing after a butterfly.

'That kid better be on my soccer team when he grows up.'

Zoe glared, suddenly appearing the protective mother she was. 'You are _not_ forcing my son into anything.'

'I'm not forcing anything.' Takuya lifted his arms, then blinked as he realised his ball was missing. 'Uhh…' He spotted it a minute later, being chased by the healthy child. 'Hehe…I guess he doesn't need me.'

Zoe stood to fetch her son. 'That's completely unhygienic.'

'It's not like they kick with bare feet.'

'I'd say almost teenagers wearing socks are worse-'

JP swivelled on his spot, swiping a slice of pizza from the abandoned box, before reconsidering and grabbing the cardboard as a whole, offering it to Tommy and Koji. Both took one, if the latter with a little prompting.

'I'm sorry…you know,' he said, a little awkwardly.

Koji shrugged, taking a bite from his slice. 'You didn't do anything.'

'But-'

'Seriously JP –' He took another bite. 'If I froze or broke down every time someone mentioned Koichi's name-'

'Or blew up-' the ex-warrior of thunder added, before clutching his stomach on reflex, half expecting his wife's elbow in reprimand.

A small smile twitched on Koji's lips. 'Or blew up,' he amended, before continuing. 'I wouldn't be doing anything with the time I have left, would I? All I'd do is hurt other people.'

'Hmm…'

'Takuya! Take your ball back!' Zoe's voice broke through the depressing conversation.

Koji finished off the rest of his slice in silence.

'I met a girl today,' Tommy said suddenly.

They both looked at him.

He blushed. 'Not that sort of girl. She's the sister of Davis Motomiya. You know, the guy to tripped Ken Ichijoji.'

Koji's face twisted into a bit of a scowl.

'What is it?' Tommy cocked his head, before covering his mouth. 'Did I say something?'

JP just rolled his eyes. 'Let bygones be bygones.'

'It's a different sort of bygones,' Koji muttered. 'Genius or not, that kid was about as cold-hearted as they come.'

'He might have changed,' the youngest of their team pointed out. 'There hasn't been anything in the news about him lately.'

Koji just shrugged, signalling an end to that train of conversation.

'It was weird though,' Tommy mused, quickly changing tracks. 'Having a conversation about digimon outside of the six of us. Truthfully, I only mentioned a start player with a DemiVeemon on his head, but still-'

'It is weird,' Zoe agreed, sitting beside the university student with her son on his lap and taking a slice for herself. 'When it was our time, Digimon could not survive in our world as far as we knew…but I wonder…' Her voice grew more contemplative. 'If things were just the circumstances at the time than true survival.'

'What do you mean?' Takuya asked, protecting his ball as Terukazu reached for it again.

'I mean Lucemon caused chaos in our world,' the blonde replied. 'But he caused chaos in the Digital World too; that was a given. When Myotismon was kidnapping people in Odaiba, that was another evil digimon causing trouble. But then there were those other digimon; we all heard that news report about the bird on the bridge-'

'Who destroyed a part of it,' JP pointed out.

'Right,' Zoe nodded. 'Fighting off a giant elephant as I recall. I'd call that "restoring order" as opposed to chaos.'

'So for every villain, we need a hero,' Tommy summed up, nodding his head.

'Gaming expert.' Takuya grinned and ruffled the other's hair. 'Don't get so technical on the rest of us.'

Zoe leaned back slightly. 'You seriously can't understand something so simple?'

'I was just kidding,' the other retorted in a faux injured tone.

An outsider would never be able to tell one of their number was missing. But then, an outsider would not pay special attention to the bags, or their content. Even if they had, most of those things would seem remarkably ordinary.

* * *

'It's about time you got here,' Yolei grumbled as Davis scrambled through the door.

You know I'm grounded,' Davis panted. 'Trying to explain to my parents my D-3 is going crazy for no reason –'

'Well, if you hadn't broken that girl's –'

'Okay, that's enough,' TK cut in before the squabble could escalate. 'We're here for a reason, remember?'

'That's right,' Kari agreed, gaining the remaining attention as she sat down in one of the computer chairs. 'We know from Tentomon that land-disputes are taking place all around the Digital World. We also know that the Digimon involved range from Champion up to Mega.'

'We can't DNA digivolve anymore,' Cody pointed out, abandoning his spot by the windowsill to come over to the rest of the group. 'Our digimon will only go up to Champion, so we'll be more of a hindrance than a help in a fight.'

'Maybe we'll get Ultimate forms,' Poromon piped up. 'Patamon and Gatomon can digivolve into MagnaAngemon and Angewomon. Maybe we can too.'

'But our digimon can only digivolve during certain times,' TK rebuked.

Patamon looked down from the white hat. 'We didn't try,' he said. 'We were too tired out from the armour evolution; digivolving takes a lot of energy.'

'Still…' His partner frowned lightly. 'That's only the two of you.'

'Maybe we'll get Ultimate forms,' Poromon reiterated.

DemiVeemon jumped on the spot. 'Yeah, that would be super-cool. I'll grow big like this.' He scrunched his face.

The others laughed.

Yolei took her seat again, tapping the password in as the screen flashed up. 'So, what are we doing and where are we going?'

'We kick butt, that's what.'

The rest of the digidestined groaned at Davis' statement.

'What? We always work out _something_. Or a miracle pops up.'

They couldn't argue with that…even if it was by no means a logical path to follow.

'So, where are we going?' Yolei repeated.

They all shrugged.

'Wherever Ken's going?'

'He's waiting on _us_.'

'I know!'

All heads snapped to the computer, where Tentomon had appeared on the screen.

'Where?' Yolei asked.

'Elecmon's complaining about the babies,' the insectoid replied. 'His eggs were flashing during lunch…or some of them anyway.' Tentomon stretched. 'You lot can ask him yourself; I'm off spying duty.'

'Well…' the computer-guru shook her head. 'I guess we're going to Primary Village then?'

She looked at the others for confirmation, and they all nodded.

'It'll be great to see Elecmon again,' Patamon grinned, lifting a fist.

'Just try not to get into a tug-of-war again,' TK responded as Yolei fired a quick email off to Ken before readying the port.

'Right, we're ready.

'Just one question,' Upamon interrupted before anyone could raise their digivices. 'Why _were_ the D-3's flashing? I fell asleep.'

'We don't know!'

* * *

Their reunion with Elecmon was a heart-felt one; whatever complaints Elecmon had, the babies seemed to be doing fine as well.

'They've been rather restless lately,' the thunder mammal explained, sitting on a large block as he watched a group of Yurimon chase after a bouncing ball. 'Babies can be rather in-tune with the environment; they sense something big is happening. They can't tell though whether it's good or bad, and that's what worries me.'

TK watched Davis and the digimon chase after the babies. 'You don't know whether it's good or bad,' he repeated. 'This fighting over land…how did it start all of a sudden?'

Elecmon shrugged. 'I'm afraid I don't know. Leomon used to come here, tell us news. Ogremon too. But neither have come for a few months. Just a little after MaloMyotismon-'

'That hasn't even been a few weeks,' the blond interrupted. 'Let alone a few months.'

'Indeed?' Elecmon frowned. 'Are you sure?'

'Of course I'm sure. We've only had two days of school so far.'

The frown firmed.

'What is it Elecmon?' Then it clicked. 'Don't tell me-'

'Times seem to have altered again.'

TK tilted his chin. 'Shouldn't that mean the time we spend here is slower in the real world then? The same time passed in both worlds yesterday.'

Elecmon looked up. 'What went on yesterday?'

'Uhh…' He thought for a moment. 'We were up on the mountain, and the dragon and bird types were fighting for the land. The dragons won out in the end; we could only catch a Biyomon devolved from a Parrotmon. He's at Sora's place right now.'

'The dragons have claimed that peak for more than a month,' the caretaker explained after a little thought. 'It wasn't the first battle, but it was one of the early ones. Since then, the mountain peak hasn't been rechallenged, but many other places have. Control constantly shifts. So far, none of the densely populated places have been attacked, but at this rate, it's only a matter of time. We've been fine here too, but…you know.'

'And all this happened in just over a day.' TK groaned, shaking his head. 'I don't get it. I'm _sure_ the time here and there was no difference when we were here.'

Elecmon remained silent for a moment. 'You'd all best be careful kid,' he said. 'If it's true time's gotten scrambled up, digimon out there are going to start losing faith in you digidestined.'

'It would help,' the boy murmured in return, watching Kari rub at an egg and Cody mimic her. 'If we _could_ do something, even in that time, but it seems useless going up against Ultimate and Mega digimon when all we have are our Champion forms. Even our armour forms aren't working.'

'They're not?' Elecmon asked. 'Since when.'

'Yester-' TK stopped, realising it sounded a little ridiculous. After all, it could have been a one-time incident. 'It really only happened yesterday.'

'And you're going to give up on the possibility?'

'No! It's just that…I guess we've been thinking about everything else.' He half-smiled. 'Not even Davis mentioned that as a possibility.'

It was almost ironic, that the holder of the crest of Hope had failed to consider hope as a possibility.

'I suppose it's worth another shot.' He withdrew his D-terminal, staring almost thoughtfully at it, before catching Patamon racing past. 'Patamon!'

'Yep?' The orange bat blinked at him.

TK held up his D-terminal, face melding into determination.

'You want me to give Pegasusmon another try?'

A small smile slid over the human's face. Patamon was always so quick to understand.

Unfortunately, it didn't work.

'Huh? Where's Pegasusmon?' The rookie blinked down at his shadow, before looking up. 'I'm sorry TK.'

'Don't worry about it.' The human picked the small form up and snuggled him close. 'You gave it your best shot.'

'But TK, _why_ can't we digivolve?'

'I don't know Patamon.'

The question burned in his mind.

'Oh, that reminds me-' Elecmon began, before interrupting himself. 'Oh!'

TK loosened his hold on Patamon and looked to where the other gazed, before gaping. 'What on earth-?'

One of the digieggs was glowing fiercely, the symbol of Hope embedded upon its body.

* * *

'So the digiegg followed you home,' Matt concluded, looking at the innocent-looking white egg sitting upon a cushion in the Takaishi's apartment.

'Yep,' TK replied, bringing two plates heaped with curry and rice over. 'Mum left food; she's working late tonight. So you don't have to cook.'

Matt reached over to ruffle his younger brother's hair. 'You don't like my cooking?' he grinned.

TK punched him lightly. 'You know it's not that.' The phone rang at that moment. 'Hang on.' He went to answer it, and the egg floated after him.

Matt had trouble keeping his laughter in check. Gabumon's poker face was a big help though. Although he had to wonder what TK was going to do with the new "problem" the following day. After all, he somehow doubted a floating egg would go around school with little mishap.

But there were other problems that were far more pressing. Like what had happened to the time continuum. And the armour evolutions. And what suddenly sent half the Digital World's land into tribal dispute.

He sighed, before putting a spoonful of curry into his mouth as he heard his brother pick up a conversation on the phone. Apparently making arrangements for something. Sounded like the soccer match. He simply chewed, waiting for the receiver to be hung up again; the world was never really going to calm down he supposed.

It did certainly keep things interesting. But one had to wonder if there really was such a thing called "peace".

He shook his head as an afterthought. That was too depressing; he wasn't going to even go there. Besides, they always managed to pull _something_ out of the hat.

He wondered if Gabumon and the others could digivolve to Ultimate. That would come in handy.

* * *

Unfortunately, attempting to break up little fights could only do so much. Agumon had managed to hold the form of MetalGreymon for a time, but it soon proved to be a direct result of the residue from Azulongmon's power because he devolved and failed to accomplish the same state since. Other than that, the only other digimon successful in achieving the Ultimate state was Patamon. The new generation had never reached there, and the old generation found themselves once again side-lined.

Although, as Tai said, they _had _already passed on the torch. Somewhere, the tides would turn. Until then, they had to do their best, and believe in themselves and their power.

Until then, even the little steps made a difference.

Although...the time confusion was driving even the resident geniuses crazy.


	7. The Crusader

Author's Notes

And it looked like this chapter was going to be on time…for about three seconds. *sigh* That was one busy week. And it's going to keep being busy.

On the bright side, having a schedule, even being behind in it, keeps me on track with most fandoms. My pure DF fics have fallen quite behind though.

Enjoy.

* * *

Crests of Origin

02/04 x-over. Everything came from somewhere. They knew the crest power came from their hearts, but before that they came from the hearts of others. Now they're learning that story as they fight for the future…and the past.

Daisuke M/Davis & Takuya K

* * *

Chapter 7

The Crusader 

The atmosphere was surprisingly tense. The second generation Digidestined had chosen to ride down to Shibuya to watch their teammate's match (and Davis was simply glad his coach and parents had allowed him to play). The mood along the way was perfectly amiable; the only strain was the occurring problems in the Digital World. Talking about it warmed the air in a way, but it certainly did not account for the dizzying effect that hit Kari the moment she stepped out of the van. Or the watered down version the others experienced…with the exception of Ken who reached much the same way as the Child of Light.

TK's dad had volunteered to drive them; he was staying with his brother and father for the weekend as his mother had a job in Osaka. The van fit them all, with an extra space for Davis too (who had to endure the school transport). And with an adult who knew of the Digital World as their chaperone, they were free to indulge in discussion. Ken too sat in the van, sitting beside another empty seat with Cody claiming the other window; he had chosen to join the group instead of taking the train independently, and while he had needed to leave home a good deal earlier, it wasn't a decision he could regret. Or would for that matter. In any case, he had had something of importance to tell them. Namely he'd managed to break through the defences of their mystery digivice. The others' excitement was quickly squashed when he informed them that the device had only contained the data files of a few Digimon (a couple of Phantomon and IceDevimon in their entirety and remnants of numerous rookies and Champions), and some sort of a global map that little resembled the Digital World they knew today, even if there was little else it could be.

'Nothing else?' They had all been rather disappointed.

Ken had shrugged. 'It has a search function, but it's unlike any programme I've ever seen before. I couldn't make heads nor tails of it.'

They had all been surprised to find Ken Ichijouji stumped by a computer programme – and even more surprised when the Digidestined of Kindness revealed he had called Izzy and the other had hit the same stumbling block. Perhaps the only thing that surprised them more was how fast time had flown – they were already at Shibuya by the time they'd drifted off topic.

Yolei found herself wondering if they'd taken a shortcut through the Digital World for a moment. That was before Kari staggered against the car and she hastened to catch her DNA Digivolving partner.

'Kari? Are you okay?'

'Mmm…' It took a minute for the young brunette to work up a coherent response. 'I'm okay. I just felt dizzy for a moment.'

TK and Cody were looking at Ken worriedly as he took his head off the window-glass.

'I felt something,' the blond began. 'But I've got no idea what it was.'

'It was like when I met the other Digimon,' Patamon inputted, rather helpfully. 'Koromon and the others I mean. Before you came to the Digital World; that connection –'

'That's right,' Gatomon agreed. 'I felt the same when I first saw Kari, even though she didn't have her Digivice and I was working for Myotismon.' Her voice grew sad, and Kari was quick to comfort her.

'You're here now, and that's what matters.' The warm fur felt so soothing.

'I don't understand it,' Ken murmured, finally clambouring out of the van. 'I felt something like that as well – when I first saw you guys in Odaiba – but why now? There are so many Digidestined, both in Japan and all over the world, so is someone special here…or is it something else entirely?'

None of them had an answer to that, and so they simply found seats and prepared to cheer Davis on. And none of them noticed the attention they were receiving from the other side of the field.

* * *

Takuya had sent his team off with a last minute speech, returning to his life-long friends in the stands.

'You should be down there.' JP jerked a thumb in a scolding manner.

'Ah, they don't want an old geezer like me hanging around them,' Takuya responded brightly as he took a seat next to Koji. 'I'll be there when the match starts. They're just warming up now.' He paused, before poking the guy. 'What's with that poker face?'

'Look who's arrived,' Koji muttered in response.

Zoe gave him a curious look but she too glanced over the field, the others following suit…save Terukazu who simply played with his stuffed eagle. 'Hey,' the female blinked, having the best far-sight out of the lot of them. 'Those are the kids – the new Digidestined.'

Koji turned away. 'There are quite a few Digidestined now. Hundreds, if not thousands.'

'You know exactly what I mean,' Zoe snapped at him. 'Even if all those other children are "Digidestined", they're not linked to the Digital plane the way _they_ are.'

'What makes you so sure of that?'

'Their digimondigivolved to Ultimate for one thing.' There were times when Koji's somewhat apathetic attitude could grate one's nerves. 'What's your problem with the idea anyway?'

'What makes you say I have a problem?' Koji's eyes narrowed slightly as he knelt forward.

'Koji, you only have that look on your face when something's bothering you.'

'Hn.' The man didn't bother denying further, however he also did not offer an explanation.

An awkward pause followed, before Tommy spoke up. 'I think I know what it might be. So many children now have Digimon partners, life-long friends…but all the friends we made are…' He left the sentence unfinished, slightly diverging the tangent instead. 'And they in particular can go to the Digital World whenever they want. We left a lot of things unfinished there that we never got to go back for.'

There was a silence at that, heavy but naturally born.

'That's true,' Takuya said finally, before reaching out to ruffle the younger Himi's hair. 'Our baby brother's all grown up.'

Zoe sighed at the brunet's antics, but it was half-hearted. 'You're right,' she admitted. 'I think even Koichi, despite what he said, regretted not being able to do more there. And he had it the worst of all of us.' Both eyes were on Koji as she said this.'

He met her gaze with an expressionless face. 'I'm not made of glass.'

'I know you're not.' Her face melted into a sad concern. 'But don't you tell me you're over it because you never will be. Maybe you're past that point when you were barely living. You're moving forward now – you have moved forward, but I don't think anyone can ever get over losing someone so special to you. And Koichi was special to all of us, and if we can feel it still – that dim echo of something missing, that gentle pain – then it must be log units more for you.'

Terukazu looked at her. 'Leggos?'

'No sweetie, not leggos.'

They said no more till the sirens rang, and when they did the five were glad for the interruption. The only one who did not feel the shadow looming overhead was the innocent child who carried the namesake. He had simply looked up to the sound and then resumed playing with his toy.

* * *

The game itself was interesting, but not wholly remarkable. In the end, the team from Odaiba won, but not with enough of a margin to secure a place in the next round. As a result, both teams left the grounds rather dispirited, the sweat rolling down their necks no crown of victory.

'At least your team won,' Kari comforted as Davis trudged over to them.

'But we still didn't make it to semi-finals,' the burgundy-haired boy groaned, slumping beside her.

'There's always junior high,' TK offered.

'Sure TA –

'You haven't grown out of that yet?'

'–since you're through eliminations with the basketball –'

Ken and Cody exchanged glances while Yolei groaned. Luckily, Kari's D-terminal interrupted the two boys before their "fighting escalated".

' – you're giving up before the next match?'

There was a silence. 'What next match?'

Apparently, neither of them had heard.

'_Davis_, you don't know your own timetable? Shinjuku still needs to play against Ginza, and since you guys beat Shinjuku, if they win with enough of a margin, that'll up your ranking as well, and if Ginza loses badly enough, they'll get knocked out down so Shinjuku can take you guys to the semi-finals too.'

Davis processed that. 'But Shibuya beat Shinjuku too.'

'And you guys beat Shibuya.'

Another pause. 'I think I get it.'

'Good.' They jumped a little at Yolei's sharp voice. 'Izzy needs us to go to the Digital World immediately.'

'My old base to be exact,' Ken elaborated, his face having tightened somewhat during the moment it had taken him to read the email sent. 'Dark energy is leaking out again.'

Everyone looked at TK, who took a moment to realise why. 'I'll ask Dad if he brought his laptop.

It turned out he hadn't.

'I'm on vacation,' Hiroaki shrugged. 'I didn't plan on needing the laptop.'

TK groaned and muttered under his breath: 'My work-a-holic father _would_ not bring his laptop the one day we need it.'

'We should carry one around like Izzy used to,' Kari commented. 'They're a lot smaller now. And cheaper.'

'My mother wouldn't be particularly pleased with that,' Cody replied. 'The nearest library's closed for renovations so we can't go there.'

'Does anyone know someone who lives around here?'

All heads present shook 'no.'

'Let's just ask someone around,' Davis sighed finally, spinning around to address the first person he saw outside their group.

By then though, the stands were empty.

'We could ask the other team,' Patamon suggested from TK's head. 'I can see them over there. There's a bunch of adults there; maybe of them has a laptop?'

The digidestined looked at each other, and then shrugged.

'I'll wait here,' Hiroaki offered as they hurried off, before sighing and shaking his head. 'I wish they wouldn't do that.'

'Don't wait!' TK yelled at that moment. 'We'll come out back home.'

Hiroaki groaned and hoped they would, and not before _too_ long. He didn't fancy being the one to explain the situation to worried parents again.

* * *

Takuya was simply standing with his friends when the opposition's lead player showed up, the rest of the Digidestined in tow. Everyone knew they were digidestined; goodness knew there was enough talk about it after the defeat of Malomyotismon. And they'd been talking before the match too.

No-one was talking then though. JP was running after Terukazu, the latter crawling about in the dust. Tommy was regarding Davis and DemiVeemon (who was sitting on Armadillamon's back) in a thoughtful manner. Zoe was looking at Gatomon – or specifically, her tail ring. Koji had looked at Ken for a moment, before turning subtly away.

And Takuya was waiting, considering he was the only one that would be marginally recognised.

He wasn't expecting the question though. 'Do any of you have a laptop computer?'

'Laptop?' the coach repeated blankly.

'It's an emergency,' the burgundy haired male, Davis Motomiya, elaborated.

Takuya looked at his friends. Zoe shook her head; there was no point asking JP then. Tommy shook his as well…which was a surprise, considering his line of work. He normally had the technology with him in case inspiration struck at an ill-timed moment. But then again, he'd caught the bus from the university so that might have been a deciding factor in its absence.

Koji took a while to answer. 'I have one,' he admitted finally. 'But what's so important that I should lend it to a bunch of children?' His tone was not cold, but certainly hard.

'Uhh…' Davis began, fumbling mentally. 'It's to do with the Digital World,' he admitted finally. After all, the adults must know _something_ to not jump out of their skin by the minor scuffle Patamon and DemiVeemon had engaged in. 'You see, we need to open a port, and –' He blinked and stopped as the raven-haired man turned and left. 'Uhh…'

Takuya just shook his head. 'He could at least say something.'

'Leave him alone, Takky,' Zoe cautioned. 'It doesn't help that he looks a little like him too.'

That made no sense to the kids.

'He's getting the laptop,' the blonde added, seeing their baffled expressions. There was a smile on her face, albeit a little strained. 'I'm Zoe Orimoto.'

'JP Shibayama,' JP introduced, finally bringing Terukazu over. 'And this is our son, Terukazu. Zee here just never changed her surname.' He put on a mock-hurt expression, causing his wife to stick her tongue out at him in a teasing manner.

'Keep it PG,' Takuya muttered, before getting elbowed by the ex-warrior of wind. 'I'm Takuya Kanbara, Coach for Shibuya's soccer team. I also teach at the local elementary school. Sports.'

'Tommy Himi,' Tommy said, looking specifically at Davis. 'I go to the same university as your sister, but I'm studying to be a game designer. The guy with us is Koji Minamoto. He works with the local police.'

'So whatever's on his computer is pretty important,' Yolei nodded. 'He wouldn't want just anyone fiddling around with it.'

'True,' JP nodded. 'But you sound rather desperate.'

Davis flushed at that, not realising he'd been dancing anxiously on his heels, or that Kari had been biting her lip and TK getting ready to swipe the hat off his head and wring it. 'Well…it's somewhat of a life or death situation.'

They all, children and digimon included, felt rather young and vulnerable under the adults penetrating glares – until Takuya grinned. 'Follow us then.'

Slightly confused, they all trailed behind.

'It saves time if Koji sets the laptop up while we talk,' Zoe explained. 'There's a lot of protection to get around, so not just anyone can use it. In any case, he trusts our judgement.'

'In this case, better than his own,' Takuya said, grin fading somewhat. There was nostalgia in his tone, prompting Yolei to elbow Davis when he asked for clarification.

Tommy, who had turned around and seen the brief exchange, commented: 'You two remind me of JP and Zoe when they were your age.'

'They do not!' the married couple exclaimed in one voice. The two addressed looked at each other before turning their heads away, the implications clicking into place.

'So what did you mean by-' Davis made to repeat, only to be cut off by Yolei screeching his name.

'You're not going to let this go, are you?' Takuya asked lightly, before stopping and turning around. 'It's a long story, but to cut it short…' He trialled off, looking directly at Ken when he did. The prodigy met his gaze evenly, if a little uncomfortably. 'You look like his brother. Or rather, how he looked before he died.'

The voice was even, but they could all see the pain behind his eyes. They all heard the stifled sob from the only female in the group. They all saw her husband weave an arm around her a pull her close. And they all saw the youngest of them clench his fists.

'And if that wasn't bad enough,' Takuya continued. '_Your _brother broke his chess record. The record you now hold. A dead's record broken twice over isn't a pretty thing, you know?'

Ken decided he'd much rather MaloMyotismon come out of the ground and swallow him up instead of himself formulating a reply to that. The Dark Spore, even after its influence had faded into the back of his subconsciousness, still seemed more of an excuse and catalyst for his actions than a reason. After all, he was the one who had let something as petty as jealousy do so much damage.

But Shibuya's Coach was right. It wasn't a pretty thing at all to break the record of someone who couldn't defend it. Particularly when it was done for that sole purpose. But…that hadn't been Sam's reason, had it?

For the first time, he wondered why _Sam_ had put so much effort towards his studies? Why Sam had tried to be the best at everything? The perfect child – even if he hadn't quite succeeded in being the perfect brother. But those were the most precious memories he retained of his elder brother.

Takuya was watching his expression. 'That was tactless of me,' he murmured finally. 'My apologies.' Whether it had slipped his mind that the young Ichijouji had also lost a brother. 'He was a very good friend to all of us, and…'

'Let's go,' Tommy muttered.

'Eh, right.'

* * *

The short discussion though had left Ken rather unnerved of the police officer, but surprisingly he didn't even spare him a glance, simply standing aside and letting Yolei set up the port while keeping a sharp gaze over her shoulder.

Yolei herself was also rather uncomfortable, having the shadow of someone watching her every move, but she got the port up and running in record time. Her curiosity was itching as she saw the evidence of numerous firewalls and security systems – but decided to save that for her career. She wasn't Izzy after all; she hesitated to ask him how he'd managed to break into the US Army's Database. Still, she'd love to know how those defences were all woven together.

Hmm…maybe she should apply for the Task Force after she graduated? They'd probably need a technician.

But to the matter at hand.

'Right. The port's ready. And…oh.' She quickly looked at the adults. 'Thank you so much for this. There's no need to wait for us.'

The digidestined brought out their digivices. The adults…well, they tried not to stare, but that's exactly what they wound up doing. Takuya leaned over to whisper something in Koji's ear, but the other said nothing in return.

Although they, the children and their digimon, were sure they heard the whispers of a conversation starting off as they vanished.

* * *

'Ack.' Hawkmon spat out some sand. 'A fine landing.'

'Speak for yourself,' Gatomon coughed, roughly shaking her fur. 'I've got sand everywhere.'

'Don't shake it on us,' the remaining digimon chorused as the humans brushed themselves off.

'It was lucky that guy had a laptop,' TK commented. 'But they were awfully strange for a bunch of strangers.'

'The "Tommy" guy said he went to the same university my sister goes to,' Davis pointed out. 'Hang on…he said "Himi", didn't he? That's Jun's English lecturer.'

'He also said he's in game design,' Yolei pointed out.

'Maybe he has a brother or something,' the other replied stubbornly. 'Man, the way Jun went on about him when she first started classes.' He made a face, before fixing it as Kari frowned at him.

'Anyway,' the Child of Courage and Friendship coughed. 'Moving on, shouldn't we head over to where we destroyed the – hang on.' He blinked. 'We _destroyed_ the base!'

They all looked at each other, before sprinting.

* * *

'They point their Digivices at a computer and get sucked straight in.' Takuya was, somewhat uncharacteristically, frowning. 'That's practically unfair.' As childish as it was to assert that.

'It doesn't matter,' Koji said quietly, a funny look on his face. 'The only one who had a digivice after the Digital World was Koichi.'

No-one quite knew what to say after that, and so they settled in and around the car…and waited.

* * *

What they found was a crater oozing with dark energy. The mass literally pulsated, beating in time with each of their hearts hammering away in their chest. The sand did not pitch forward at the edge – it simply…

'…vanished,' Ken murmured, staring at the sloping ground. 'It's like a piece of the earth is…well, missing.'

Yolei pulled out her D-terminal, silently blessing Izzy when she located the small portion within the map. 'Yep, it's missing all right.'

TK leaned over her shoulder, blinking at the black segment. 'Okay…so what exactly does that –'

He was broken off as sand suddenly flew in the air – straight towards them.

'Duck!'

No-one was quite sure who yelled, nor did they care. They simply followed the order and ducked. They only stood when they heard the cry of "Electric Slash" did they spring up.

'Knightmon?' Davis asked, incredulously.

'I hardly think this is the place to be fighting,' TK frowned. All of them were a good distance from the edge, but the Knightmon ran the perimeter. 'But it looks like we don't have a choice.'

Kari frowned too, rubbing her forearms to get rid of the goosebumps that crawled across her skin. 'Where did they come from?' she murmured. 'That hole? Or the sand-storm?'

None of them could tell. Thus none could reassure her.

When the second shout of "Electric Sword" came, so did the Digivices.

'Veemon digivolve to…Ex-Veemon.'

'Armadillamon digivolve to…Ankylamon.'

'Hawkmon digivolve to…Aquilamon.'

'Patamon digivolve to…Angemon.'

'Wormmon digivolve to…Stingmon.'

Gatomon scowled as she further extended her claws. 'I may be small,' she muttered. 'But I'm still a Champion with a Tail Ring.'

Kari smiled, albeit a little weakly. They may be far from the darkness seeping from that hole, but she could still feel its effects. 'You tell 'em,' she encouraged, before backing away as a Knightmon caused the sand to shoot up again.

The petite brunette coughed, looking around as she lost sight of the others. She could still hear the cries of her partners, so that was good. And Yolei, or so she thought. It couldn't really be anyone else; Yolei _was _ the only other female present.

She moved a few steps away from the fighting; it wouldn't do to get her caught in the crossfire. Or to get too close and tumble off the edge.

The idea gave her the creeps.

But there was something behind her that was very comforting. And warm. And familiar.

'Yolei?' she tried. No, it wasn't Yolei. Or any of the boys. Or Tai. It still felt familiar though.

Then it clicked. 'Oh, I remember you. How have you been?'

A small tendril of darkness answered her.

'Oh…that's causing problems to, isn't it?'

Her digivice glowed in her pocket. She didn't notice.

'Do you know what's causing it?'

There was cry of "Spiral Masquerade".

'Can we help?'

The digivice burst with an unseen light.

* * *

It took awhile before they managed to get the sand to still…but they hadn't managed to deter the Knightmon very well. It was to be expected, as they were Ultimate digimon and the Digidestineds' crew were floundering around as Champion. But they were holding their own and that was what counted.

Both TK and Ken found the grey colour a little unnerving, the close proximity to the "hole" even more so. They expected Kari to display the same unease, but to their surprise found her facing away from the battle with a passive expression on her face.

Davis was busy with the pink female-Digimon that had appeared without introduction. Or rather, Ex-Veemon was wrapped up by her. Literally. Ankylamon was busy knocking away approaching Knightmon with his tail and Stingmon took them for one-to-one matches with his stingers.

Angemon likewise was doing so with his bow and Gatamon was causing a general ruckus.

'Kari?' TK called, backing up a bit as a Knightmon stepped dangerously back.

She turned around, brown eyes sweeping over the battlefield before locking on the pink digimon. Her next words, quiet but echoing through the battlefield, caught them all off guard.

'That's enough, Crusadermon.'


	8. Possessor of Light

Author's Notes

Where does all the time go? Seriously? Not to mention the scene with Ken was a pain…and if the last four pages or so is a mess, forgive me. I'm doing this at one in the morning.

And I haven't watched Digimon Frontier since some time last year so I can't remember the exact conversations from the dub. I'm just winging it; it's fine though. When I watched X-1999 they had about three or four different versions (dialogue wise) of the same scene.

Enjoy.

* * *

Crests of Origin

02/04 x-over. Everything came from somewhere. They knew the crest power came from their hearts, but before that they came from the hearts of others. Now they're learning that story as they fight for the future…and the past.

Daisuke M/Davis & Takuya K

* * *

Chapter 8

Possessor of Light

'That's enough?' Crusadermon echoed, before frowning. 'I'm surprised to see you again.'

'I'm surprised to see you as well,' Kari – or whoever was currently possessing her because the voice was too deep for her own – replied. 'I don't recall meeting before however.'

'I see,' the Royal Knight responded. 'You don't remember. In all honesty, that's not surprising, however I'm here for a different purpose.'

'A purpose in which your heart is not firmly engraved in,' the brunette responded coolly. 'It would make everyone's lives a whole lot easier if you realised that.'

'I disagree.' If Kari's voice was cool, Crusadermon's was a block of ice. 'My loyalties are unquestionable to the likes of any of you Digidestined.'

'From your previous words, I'm sure you realised I am not Digidestined.'

'Perhaps not,' the female warrior agreed. Subtly, her sword-arm moved. 'In fact, you are nothing more than essence and the remnants of memories from a life long lost. I could even go so far as to feel sorry for you, but –'

The ribbon straightened and lashed out. Gatomon cried out and attempted to leap up, but Kari (or her body rather) easily dodged.

'But what?' the girl responded.

'But I have a grudge and a duty against the Digidestined,' the Royal Knight responded, letting loose her Spiral Masquerade attack.

The other Digidestined ducked as sand flew up once more.

* * *

Gatomon scowled as she failed to get to her human once more. While the presence in Kari definitely wasn't _her_, it hadn't hurt her the last time they had come face to face with it. It had stopped WarGreymon and MagnaGarurumon from destroying each other and the hope of the Digital World. It had told them the origin of the Digidestined, and for her especially how she'd grown up alone and on the doorstep of evil.

Of course, she'd gotten that fever afterall –

Gatomon frowned, before leaping to dodge a slap of cream ribbon, attempting to maneuver weapon and sand.

Eventually, she got a clear shot to attack with her paws. Not that they did any good at all against a mega. She was surprised though to be snatched out of the air and carried before her attack hit and put her in further strife.

'Kari – no.'

'You noticed.' The voice was the same, that deep tenor mixed in with Kari's own sweet tone. 'I will explain once we are free from Crusadermon's present company.'

Gatomon accepted that, although she certainly wouldn't have been so accommodating if she could sense any ill-will from the other…or in fact if they (the original Digidestined) hadn't already met with this strange entity. Now that she thought about it – despite the distinctly bad time – she felt it a failing in hindsight for not asking Gennai about the mysterious being. But then again, considering the roundabout answers they were used to receiving from him, it may not have made that much of a difference in the short-term.

That didn't mean she had to put up being held like a common household pet though. Although it was holding him the same way Kari was, so she couldn't really complain…

She could complain at not being able to fight though. And she did.

'A Champion is no match for a Mega Digimon,' was the reply she received, and they quickly dodged again.

'That woman's easier to push over than my scratching post,' Gatomon shot back, and with perfectly good reason. It was inconceivable that the children could dodge her attacks so accurate. So far though they didn't seem intended to injure any present parties.

An ouch from near them disproved the statement.

* * *

Ken could not even begin to fathom how a lady with a ribbon was causing so much trouble. For that matter, he also could not understand how none of them had been torn to shreds as they were rather obviously outmatched. As it was, everything was either deterable or duckable (and he knew his vocabulary was suffering rather badly but he was occupied with more important matters).

As a matter of fact, that applied more to the humans as it did to the Digimon, because he found himself knee-deep in tossed up sand before his mind managed to register the fact that he had dodged.

'Uhh…Ken?' Stingmon called as he knocked another ribbon away. 'I'm getting pretty tired over here.'

And his wings were faltering in the air, validating that.

Ken, unfortunately, could see very little through the pseudo-sandstorm. He could hear TK and Davis yelling something, but only Davis' words were clear. He was yelling to Ex-Veemon though, so there was absolutely nothing to gain from knowing.

He also had nothing that could be of help. They couldn't DNA digivolve, and they didn't even have an egg, even if recent experiences with Armour Evolution marked it as a bad idea.

For some reason, the fact that he had a crest somewhere in the debris of the exploded base hit him at that moment. Surely, just like the original Digidestined, it could…

Sand flew up again as Stingmon hit the ground with a thump. All he could make out were the two stingers, purple and glowing softly as he ran to the other on pure instinct.

Only, when he got close enough so that not even the sand to obscure his vision, he saw one of those purple objects was in fact the crest he had surrendered to his sin.

And it was glowing. So was his digivice. The ribbon that suddenly struck his back was not; perhaps that was how he missed it.

It didn't hurt though; he barely felt it. Stingmon was there, looking up at him – he could see the face clearly now…and he reached for the crest, clutching it within his fist and hoping, preying…

But at the same time doubting.

_I'm not kind…_

His brother. The Emperor. His brother…

'_You are,'_ a voice responded to him.

_Wha..?_

_'We are connected through the crest you hold and the virtue it represents,'_ the voice, neither male nor female, young nor old, replied. '_And you are kind. Do not doubt that.'_

Ken closed his eyes slowly. He felt something slip away from his mind.

_'Trust yourself. Trust your partner.'_

_Trust…_

His hand unconsciously found Stingmon's scale.

_Stingmon…_

He repeated it out loud. 'Stingmon…'

'Ken..?' The head attempted to lift a little, but the human was there to prevent that.

'Hold on. It's no good fighting like this.'

'Crusadermon is still there,' the other protested.

'I know, but you're all just Champion digimon. You need something more.'

'Ken?' Stingmon twisted his head around, large insectoid eyes taking advantage of their wide peripheral vision to spot the small purple crest held out towards him. It glowed brighter as his eyes locked upon it, and once the warmth started stealing through his data, he understood.

* * *

'Stingmon digivolve to…JewelBeemon!'

The cry cut through the sand; the newly digivolved digimon settled its storm. Iridescent wings spread out into the suddenly cleared sky, gleaming all colours of the rainbow as the light of the new digivolution faded.

Everyone else looked up in awe…until the Digimon vanished.

'Who is that?' Cody asked.

'JewelBeemon?' Ken blinked; his call was well timed, but not in response to his teammate's question. Rather, he wondered to the disappearance…before he caught sight of the glimmers that hung in the empty air.

The others didn't catch on quite as quick.

'Where'd that cool looking Digimon go?' Davis wondered aloud as he searched.

'Hey,' Ex-Veemon said, sounding insulted. He didn't get any further chance to defend his pride when there was a cry of 'Shot Claw!' and the green insectoid, larger and with stronger armour than his preceding evolution, cannoned into Crusadermon who, upon reflex, barely got her shield up in time.

'An Ultimate is still no match for a Mega,' TK pointed out with a frown.

'That will be a problem for a later battle,' Kari – or whatever currently inhabited replied and the blond's head snapped around to stare at her.

It turned out she – or it – was correct though, as instead of pursuing the battle Crusadermon took her leave with little comment.

* * *

Ken slipped the now dull crest into his blazer pocket before picking up the devolved Minomon and returning to his friends. Davis immediately appeared next to him, clapping both digmon and human on the back while Veemon plodded along beside him.

'That was awesome dude,' he exclaimed. 'How'd you do it?'

'Stingmon digivolved to Ultimate with the power of the crest of Kindness,' TK said as an answer, even if he wasn't the person asked. 'Just like the old days.'

'Yes,' Kari – or her possessor – replied. 'With Oikawa's sacrifice forming a security blanket of sorts around the Digital Worlds, the crests are not necessary to maintain stability and can therefore be used for digivolution.'

'You possessed Kari before,' TK spoke up, after the other's explanation was met with silence.

'What?' Davis gaped, but Yolei snapped her fingers.

'Ooh, I remember Izzy telling me about this.'

'How come no-one told me-?'

Veemon stepped on his foot, effectively cutting him off. Unfortunately, they left a bit of an awkward silence behind them.

Until Gatomon squirmed. 'Can we get on with the show?' she asked.

Kari's head bent down somewhat in a half-nod. 'This current problem…existed before the birth of the Sovereigns.'

The air began to warp as she spoke, almost as if the world was changing around them.

'Before even the first Digidestined were called to the Digital World…'

'The first Digidestined?' Davis blinked. 'Like…Tai and the others?'

'No,' both TK and Kari replied. The latter continued: 'Since the Digital World's birth, many teams of humans have crossed over and assisted in its survival when the Digimon themselves feel incapable of doing so themselves.'

The scene around them grew grey, then morphed into a plain of sorts. An invisible line was drawn through the middle, shadows aggregating on both sides thereof.

'What's this?' Cody asked.

'Before order was established in the Digital World,' Kari explained. 'There were many battles over territory. Typically they were between the human-type and beast-type digimon, but occasionally the scuffles were broken into more particular divisions.'

'Like dragons and birds?' Ken looked at Minomon, and saw Yolei doing the same with Hawkmon.

The brunette nodded. 'Yes. The world was filled with such battles; nothing had a hope of prospering while such turmoil existed. Eventually, a digimon called Lucemon arose and ceased the fighting, establishing order and peace…for a time.'

The image shifted as she spoke, so instead of looking at a warring nation they show a glow in the centre: an angel, smaller than Angemon and yet higher in statute. A figure that poured with power, glowing so brightly none could make out the details of his design.

'For a time, Lucemon was a fair and gracious ruler, but eventually became obsessed with power and began tormenting the inhabitants of the Digital World. Ten digimon, each representing one of the basic elements that made up the Digital World, rose up and eventually sealed him away; their energy spent, they became spirits and sunk into the land.'

The Digidestined watched the ten formless figures circle: black against stark white before each took on a different colour: purple, pink, red, orange, brown, yellow, two shades of blue, green and white. And the white in the middle slowly melted into grey, and then black.

'The three Celestial Digimon ruled after that…'

And from the now empty landscape, three Digimon rose.

'Hey,' Patamon pointed at one of them. 'That's me.'

'And my rookie form,' Gatomon added, no longer held by her human and now standing astride. 'And if I'm not mistaken, that's Willis' Lopmon.'

'More accurately, you are their reincarnated forms,' the spirit possessing Kari corrected. 'In fact, most of the digimon partnering you all came from a digimon who influenced the balance of power that governed the Digital Plane.'

The three rookie forms glowed, then grew into far taller shadows. Only one of them looked familiar.

'That's Cherubimon,' Gatomon said.

'Yes,' Kari replied. 'And Ophanimon and Seraphimon. Together, they are known as the three Celestial Digimon, or Great Angels.'

The ten glowing orbs split into groups of three and the Angels took them in. The two humanoids spread their wings – one raised a staff – and they vanished into the sky as the earth glowed gold.

'Come,' the brunette said, closing her eyes and letting herself float. 'Let us follow.'

The digidestined did so, quietly, and soon came to a castle overlooking a forest. The humans looked in awe, but they had little time to admire before they passed through its walls.

'Hey,' Gatomon exclaimed. 'That looks like Wizardmon.'

'It's Sorcerymon,' Ken corrected. He'd seen that Digimon on his Database, although he couldn't remember ever meeting him before. 'He's-oh. Ophanimon and Seraphimon.'

'Yes.' Kari nodded. 'Peace lasted for a time, but the three angels found it difficult to agree on different matters because of their nature. Cherubimon in particular, being a beast-type, found it difficult to agree with the policies raised by human-type digimon. In that sense at least, the old feuds remained. Ophanimon and Seraphimon attempted to reconcile their views with Cherubimon, however…' She left the sentence unfinished, simply gesturing out the window.

The digidestined and digimon looked, finding the curled up Mega digimon vanishing from the branch, sorrow and pain etched upon his face.

'He believed they had turned against him,' the spirit continued. 'And it just so happened that Lucemon's prison had began weakening at the same time. Energy spilled out: energy that warped his heart and mind and made him into that.' She pointed again, and this time they saw the Cherubimon as he had been infected with virus. No longer white and pink but a semblance of purple and black and with a storm cloud of anger and anguish hovering about him.

The next moment, they ground they were floating about exploded. Davis cried out, as did the newer Digidestineds' digimon; TK, Gatomon and Patamon had already experienced the likes once before, and Yolei and Cody had known, on some bare level, what to expect. And Ken…Ken simply wasn't the sort of guy to cry out in shock.

'It's okay,' Kari said calmly. 'The past cannot touch the present in a physical manner.'

The forms of other digimon became clear. An army of beasts, marching with Cherubimon floating at their heels and lightning cackling at their heads. Sorcerymon flew into the room they, and the two Celestial Digimon, were in, with a cry to disturb any conversation.

Ophanimon and Seraphimon rushed out onto the balcony, watching the defences of the castle engage the swarm. Watching the lightning plunge towards them. Watching it strike.

Seraphimon fell, wings curving inward and crumbling under his weight. The female angel supported him as Cherubimon rose to their level. Her lips parted.

They only heard the end.

'Cherubimon!' she cried, clutching the other in a protective hold. Her head shook; tears dropped onto gloved hands. 'I'll do whatever you ask of me, but I beg you…spare his life!'

The scene froze like that a moment, before Kari stepped into the air again. 'Let's go,' she said quietly, and they all followed.

'What happened next?' Armadillamon asked. 'It felt like you left us in the middle of a story there.'

'Some things the world simply remembers in more detail than others,' the spirit explained. 'As for what happened…Ophanimon was taken prisoner and held at the Rose Morning Star. Cherubimon's castle if you will. That done, he began collecting the data of the Digital World and upsetting the balance of existence. As you know, the Digital World in its rawest form is data. It has long developed since then, but the world was young when this all happened so removing the data wasn't a particularly difficult process.' Kari closed her eyes and pointed again. They now saw the Digital World, rapidly dwindling to look like Swiss cheese. 'It only lasted as long as it did because of the existence of your world and its inherent connection to our own.'

'So the first digidestined were chosen?' Yolei asked.

'Yes. Ophanimon governed the forces of life and love; her spirit was closest to the existence of the Digital World and thus she was the only one with the ability to reach across to other planes. Because the Digital World originated from data and the data from your world, she was able to call across the plains. She also possessed the gift of foresight, or so it was told, so she knew that there were people in your world that could save this one. She didn't know which though, and so she called them all. Few came. Fewer still remained. In the end there were nine children: five of them became Digidestined. The other four had the potential, but their spirits and digivices never reached them.'

'Spirits?' the humans asked together.

The spirit pointed to the now black space once more. Images flashed past: a brunette in goggles taking the red orb they'd seen before. A tall stern boy in a bandana taking the dark blue. A little kid in a hat too big for him taking the white one. A girl with blonde hair and a somewhat exotic appearance taking the pink. A boy who looked a little chubby, or muscular, for his age taking the orange. And there were four other digimon forming from the remaining spheres: a gnome of sorts who looked like he literally had rocks for brains from the yellow. A water sprite from the pale blue, a superficial grin on her face. A walking tree without leaves of any sort from the brown. An assemblage of mirrors from the green. The purple blinked, then darkened into coal.

And then there was just the black for a time, before it went into a human shaped shadow and changed him. Ken felt himself shivering at the sight for reasons unknown to him.

'Why can't we see that kid's face?' he asked instead. 'He's human, isn't he?' He was assuming the other was male, but the masculine pronoun was typically used in the general case as well.

'I believe so,' the spirit responded. 'I cannot say for sure; the Digital World does not remember, and so I cannot either…if I ever knew.'

'I…what are you?'

Kari turned, face impassive. 'I am a part of the balance of this world,' came the reply. 'For now, that is all I can say.' She beckoned and stepped into the air once more, continuing her tale as they went. 'Eventually, they defeated Cherubimon with Ophanimon's help, and then discovered the root of the problem: Lucemon. He sent more henchmen to fulfil the task of stripping the world of its data, and they succeeded. Lucemon was revived.'

They stopped at the edge of nothing, or that was what it had appeared to be. Six humans stood upon the nothingness, none of whom could be distinguished save by their colours. There were five digimon as well, but they were even less defined than the humans.

The only one they could see clearly was the angel.

'He looks like a little kid,' Davis commented.

'Those children said that as well,' came the response. 'Listen.'

'You little brat!'

Definitely the only female in the group.

'She's right! You're nothing but a scared little boy!'

'I wish we could have used some of that stuff on Myotismon,' TK muttered under his breath. Only Patamon heard, and he was hard-pressed to stop his giggle.

Kari – or the spirit possessing her – was strangely silent. They, and the others, turned back to watch the microfilm of events. Moons being blasted apart. Eggs destroyed. The earth as if it was made from the wires they sometimes used in art class. Lucemon becoming bigger. Stronger. Fighting. Purple disappearing. The remaining five somehow coming together into a swarm of colours that held all the ten they had seen and none aside. Lucemon dying. Coming back stronger. Dying again. And then a third time…but the one who defeated him was dying as well.

And then there was just five humans with their world, the human world, back-dropping them.

And then sand.

'The world was rebuilt after that,' the spirit continued, in a manner that suggested the tale was coming to an end. 'Somehow it…changed. Evolved. Problems arose. Digidestined came and went, but now something is changing again. The old wars are rising again. The old powers are needed.'

She turned around; her eyes were still brown, but the shade did not match her usual caramel. Rather, they were dark. Not rich like chocolate. Perhaps wood was the closest resemblance: polished wood. The exact shade was difficult to describe, difficult to attribute to anything.

'You must find the crests again, and the remaining Digi-eggs.' Her voice remained soft but deep, but it was beginning to fade. The sand was starting to lift again; a slight breeze ruffled them. 'They are needed…and your virtue…'

Her eyelids dipped, and then she was falling. TK, being prepared (seeing as, the last time, she had fainted into Tai's arms), caught her.

'So…' Davis said after a brief silence. 'I take it this has happened before?'


	9. The Nine Crests

Author's Notes

Apparently, my Sumer break isn't as vacation-y as I thought; real life interference.

I really hope there are no inconsistencies. I did double check but it's been awhile. Let me know if there are please; chances are it's a mistake on my part.

Enjoy.

* * *

Crests of Origin

02/04 x-over. Everything came from somewhere. They knew the crest power came from their hearts, but before that they came from the hearts of others. Now they're learning that story as they fight for the future…and the past.

Daisuke M/Davis & Takuya K

* * *

Chapter 9

The Nine Crests

Tai kept glancing worriedly at the door to the bedroom he shared with his sister. At that moment, Kari was peacefully asleep behind it, rejuvenating after hosting a spirit none of then still understood. He couldn't help but remember the last time, and how ill she had gotten…and indeed, she had looked rather peaky as Yolie carried her through the gate (TK and Davis had both argued over the role before the older girl had stepped in). They'd had the foresight (or rather, Cody had) to call ahead to the Kamiya residence and have Tai boot up the computer so the gate could be opened from the Digital World straight to their destination opposed to across the river in Shibuya. But still, it had taken long enough for some of the colour to start draining out of Kari's face.

However the colour had returned to her pale face by the time they carried her to her bed, and now half an hour later, once the story had been recounted to the older Digidestined, Kari was comfortably asleep as if doing nothing but taking an afternoon nap, Gatomon keeping vigil over her.

That, of course, didn't stop her elder brother from worrying about her. He had enough presence of mind though – the incident involving him getting unhinged enough to strike Izzy full on the face was still fresh in his mind, even four years after the occurrence – to know that Kari would be just fine without him hovering over her every second, and that his skills were better served adding his mind to the mix of cooks that collected in the Kamiya's living room. And to play the good host to the two teams (minus Kari, in her bedroom; Sora who apparently had a date with her father; and Mimi who was in America), as both parents were out and last he heard from Agumon, the orange reptile had found a battalion of kindred lizards and was now rebuilding a volcano city.

'So you're saying,' he said, wrenching his gaze away as he felt Matt's eyes on him. 'That we have to find all the crests all over again?'

Davis shrugged. 'That's what…err, not-Kari said.'

Sora looked the most dismayed, remembering how long it had taken to find her crest. Izzy, on the contrary, looked rather thoughtful, tapping away at his trusted laptop.

'All right,' he said thoughtfully, showing his screen a moment Joe asked what he had been doing. 'I was just thinking of where we found the old crests; you remember how they were scattered all over Server, right?'

The old digidestined nodded.

'I wondered if there was a pattern to that,' he continued. 'Tai's was the first; we found it in the caves of the Koromon village. Then Joe's in the Colosseum, and Mimi's in the desert. Next were mine and Matt's in the well, and then TK's in the sphinx statue, and finally Ken's in the desert as well. Sora's and Kari's were found before us: Datamon had Sora's, and Myotismon had Kari's.'

'So did you find a pattern?' Joe asked.

'Not at all,' the original child of knowledge responded. 'It doesn't really make sense for both Ken's and Mimi's crests to be in the same general area; their virtues are pretty different after all. I also don't see why the desert; if we were going by virtues, I would expect either my crest, TK's or Kari's.'

'Was the Crest of Sincerity found in the sand?' Ken asked, who had been doing some thinking of his own.

'No,' Izzy replied. 'If I recall correctly, it came from a cactus flower.'

'And Palamon follows a plant digivolution,' Ken continued. 'Wormmon follows an insect one; I wouldn't say the desert is most suitable for that, but it does make sense for the Crest of Sincerity to come from a plant.'

'The crest of Friendship came from the well,' Matt continued. 'And Gabumon follows a water digivolution line.'

'But Gabumon's digivolutions can also be categorised as ice and metal,' Izzy reminded. 'Particularly judging from Raidramon.'

'Did someone say my name?' Demiveemon asked, who had zoned off during the discussion.

David rubbed his knuckle on the mon's head.

'But if that was the case,' Patamon asked. 'Why would we find Joe's crest at the Colosseum. Gomamon's got water, ice and thunder traits but he's not too good on land.'

Joe chucked. 'If he was here, I'd bet he'd have some remark to that,' he commented. 'But you're right. Gennai said they were scattered by Devimon though, so I doubt he was being convenient.'

'It may be just a big coincidence,' Izzy admitted, looking somewhat put-out. 'In any case, I think the chances of the Crests being at the same places is pretty high; if nothing else, it's a good starting point.'

'That's better than nothing,' Yolei agreed, leaning over to take a look at the map. 'Hmm, looks like a big desert. The places were Ken's and Mimi's crests were found are in the same desert, but we'll have to take two different gates to get there otherwise we'll be walking at least two days straight.'

It was no surprise they all picked the first option.

'Now, to more important matters…'

'What do you mean it wasn't important?' Upamon asked.

'No Upamon,' Cody said. 'Izzy just means there's something _more_ important.' He paused. 'Did you mean this problem of digimon fighting each other, the first Digidestined or that spirit that possessed Kari?'

'All of tem,' Izzy confessed. 'I remember asking Gennai about that spirit once, and he had no idea, which means whoever it is must be even older. But when I asked Gennai about the earliest he remembered the existence of our world, he said it was about twenty years ago in our time.'

'But that means the original Digidestined would be in their thirties right now,' Yolei exclaimed. 'We might even know them!'

'Maybe my dad was one,' Cody said quietly. 'That would be kind of cool.'

'That's right,' Matt realised. 'Your dad knew about the digital world.' He paused for a moment. 'You know, so did mine. He just changes the subject every time I ask.'

'I didn't know that,' TK said, sounding injured.

'I don't think so,' Ken interrupted. 'Cody, if your father was a Digidestined, Oikawa would have been as well. And while he knew Pipimon and Pipimon knew him, the odds of him having been in the Digital World before are pretty slim for all the lengths he went to try and go there last year.'

'Maybe you're right,' Yolei said. 'He certainly didn't look like he was missing memories; he recognised Cody's grandfather easily enough, and Myotismon only warped all that. Not like you where you still can't remember stuff.'

TK kicked her quickly.

'Ouch.'

'Way to go Yolei,' the blond hissed under his breath.

'It's okay TK,' Ken placated. 'Yolei's got a good point. I hadn't considered that.'

'That doesn't explain how some adults came into contact with the Digital World,' Izzy said as the tangent broke off. 'All we know that there are either five – or six, depending on the identity of the figure the spirit couldn't remember clearly – digidestined in the original team, and one of them is female. We know they didn't have digimon partners like us; rather they had something called Spirit Evolution. And we know their enemy was a digimon called Lucemon.'

'Is there anything else you can tell us about this Lucemon?' Matt asked curiously.

Izzy tapped some keys and brought up the digital profile. 'Lucemon, the fallen angel digimon.' His eyes sped across the screen. 'It says here he's one of the Seven Demon Lords, afflicted with the sin of pride.'

'Demon Lords?' Davis repeated.

'Like Daemon,' Izzy explained. 'He was the sin of wrath.'

'And they killed him?' Davis whistled. 'Geeze, he was as tough as MaloMyotismon.'

None of them reminded the rest they hadn't technically defeated the Demon Lord, and even now he was probably biding his time in the Dark Ocean, waiting for another time to strike.

'Still,' Izzy continued. 'If we could find these original Digidestined, it would help us understand more about the problem with the land going on now. The spirit didn't give a good overview as to how the land was split up during that time, so I'm at a bit of a loss with that. Tentomon's scouting for gossip though.'

'Tentomon is good at that,' Tai agreed. 'Do you have any ideas about who the original Digidestined could be?'

'Well…' Izzy tapped around a little more. 'No, actually.'

They all groaned.

'But I have a theory.'

'Just spit it out already,' the Child of Courage said, before Joe could comment.

'All right.' Izzy shut his laptop, before turning to Cody. 'I think that game your father and Oikawa played in their youth is our best starting point.'

Cody looked a little blank.

'They saw the Digimon in the game, right?'

'I…think so. You'd have to ask Grandpa though.'

'I think that's our best bet,' Izzy reiterated. 'Meanwhile, did that spirit mention who would get the crest?'

Five shaking heads replied.

'Right.' Izzy sighed. 'Then we're going to have to roster this, just in case the crests will only come to us original Digidestined. Ken's crest would be the best starting point then; I know I've got a ton of homework I need to finish.'

'Me too,' said all the older children.

'Do you guys ever not have homework?' Davis asked.

'That reminds me,' Tai said suddenly. 'Aren't you grounded?'

'Well…' Davis scratched his head. 'See, I managed to convince my parents that this is an emergency. But I'll be grounded for twice as long after we've saved the Digital World again. At least Jun promised to give me her allowance if I did her chores for her; she makes enough from her part time job to keep her credit card full.'

'That was nice of her,' Matt commented, remembering how Davis always seemed a little disgruntled at the mention of his boy-crazy elder sister.

'She figured out at your concert that I'm not a little kid.' Davis shrugged. 'She also figured out what it's like to be in a "real relationship", so she's more down to earth now.'

'Best of luck from me then.'

Tai nudged his best friend. 'You're just happy she's not chasing after you anymore,' he teased.

'That too,' Matt agreed.

* * *

Once the digiport faded from the screen, JP shut down Koji's laptop and put it away. They – everybody but Koji that was – were chilling out in the officer's apartment, Koji himself being called away, but he didn't mind his old friends ransacking his apartment…unless they literally ransacked it. But Teruokazu was happily playing with a throw pillow and the adults were quietly eating cake and talking…and reminiscing.

'I was expecting them to pop out of the computer,' Tommy said, a little wistfully. 'It's a shame we couldn't get the Gate to let us in.'

'Yeah.' Zoe sounded lot sadder. 'At times, it seems almost a shame growing up.' She looked over at her son, happily oblivious to his parents' woes. 'At other times, I'm glad to be an adult though. Happily married with the most adorable little boy in the world…'

If JP's chair had been any closer, the pair would be leaning against each other. Sadly, an innocent table leg was in the way, unaware of what it was preventing.

'Still…' Zoe half smiled as Terukazu evidently decided he had had enough with the pillow and was not inspecting the rocking chair itself. It looked a little out of place in the house, but she knew Koji enjoyed rocking himself gently on it once tired out, both mentally and physically, from work. 'You know how it is; I can't help but sometimes wish we were still as young and innocent as all that. So it could have been Takuya and Tommy running after the ball instead of the kid with the DemiVeemon and me snapping pictures instead of that girl with the Gatomon.'

'Aww,' JP said, feigning hurt. 'And I thought you were saving your film for me.'

'You always did have a certain way of lighting up the atmosphere.' Zoe grinned. 'That's why I married you.'

JP pouted. 'I thought you married me because you loved me.'

'That too.'

'It's depressing,' Takuya suddenly interrupted the banter. 'Being nostalgic and all; we never did get to go back to the Digital World.'

'We were lucky to have been there at all,' Tommy said. 'Although if Koji were here, he would have said it was destiny.' His eyes dropped a little. 'You know, I always wondered whether Koichi believed in destiny; I never got around to asking him.' He sighed. 'That wasn't fair at all; when I think of all the things he wanted to do and could have done…'

'Once you think about it, there's a lot of things we never knew,' JP said philosophically. 'But there were also a lot of things we got to learn, and that's more important. Same with doing things; there are some things we get to do, and other things we can't.'

'Let's save that discussion for another time,' Takuya said. 'You do realise we're going to have to do something about lunch…and probably dinner too. Koji'll kill us if we freeload without at least saving him from another takeout. '

'You're the only one who has a problem with that,' Zoe pointed out.

'Well, excuse me for lacking the finesse to cook…'

* * *

Davis looked a little put-out as Yolei, Cody, TK and Ken vanished through the Digi-port. As Joe had pointed out however, he needed time to get two people's chores done and the dangers of running into trouble in the middle of the desert were pretty slim. Also, the last time they had been in the area, it had been devoid of digimon save for those who had gone for the inevitable confrontations. It seemed to be a place that was, by enlarge, avoided.

So it was, relatively speaking, for the digidestined to be two members short as they walked across the desert. Still, Davis didn't have to like scrubbing at dishes while everyone else was doing something Digital World related. Izzy was taking what Ken had managed to uncode and further examining it, hoping something would reveal itself. Tai was holding the fort; in other words, he was making sure his little sister was perfectly fine and wouldn't need him for anything. Matt was standing by on the Kamiya's computer, making sure to be ready to search on the internet once Joe got back from the Hida's. And the digidestined of reliability was visiting Cody's grandfather in the hopes that the old man remembered what they needed to know.

And him? He was just scrubbing dishes, with Demiveemon dancing at his feet.

'Davish?' he asked. 'Are you okay?'

'I'm fine,' Davis sighed. 'It just sucks you know. Jun's a lifesaver right now, but this is still going to take forever and I want to be there, in the Digital World, when something happens. I swear I'll even give up playing soccer for it!' He waved a soapy hand in the air.

'You shouldn't do that,' Jun said, unexpectedly arriving.

'Hey,' Davis countered. 'I'm doing your chores here, so don't tell me how to do them.'

The older girl rolled her eyes. 'I meant giving up soccer, idiot.'

The burgundy haired male paused. '…oh,' he said eventually. 'Sorry sis.'

Jun waved a hand. 'I suppose I should be glad my baby bro has the decency to say sorry when he makes a mistake.' When Davis opened his mouth to counter, she waved her other hand. 'Seriously, that was a compliment.'

Davis grinned, turning the faucet back on. 'You're pretty cool sometimes.'

The doorbell suddenly rang.

'I'll get that,' Jun said, seeing as Davis was still a little soapy. 'Coming,' she yelled, as the doorbell rang again.

The sound of footsteps reached Davis over the tap, and then a male voice that was largely familiar. Jun sounded rather confused though, and then the door locked and she came back…with an unfamiliar digimon in tow.

'When did you get a digimon Jun?' Davis asked, forgetting about the tap for a second as he stared at the bouncing Koromon. 'Huh?'

'He's not mine.' Jun shrugged. 'Matt brought him over; he says he's got his hands full with something and this little fella suddenly hatched from its egg.'

'Don't tell me…'

The elder sibling grinned. 'Sorry Davis. I've got a group meeting now, so I guess you're in charge of babysitting.'

'Where is Sora when you need her,' Davis grumbled at Jun's retreating back, before raising his voice. 'You'd better pay me extra for this!'

'Take it up with Matt,' was the reply.


End file.
